Alex Eala suffered a shock three-set defeat to world No 180 Tatiana Prozorova in her opening match at the Singapore Open on Thursday.
The 21-year-old looked a little bit rusty at the beginning of her first match since losing to Iva Jovic in the third round of the US Open on 6 September.
Indeed, Prozorova roared into a 3-1 lead with some fearless tennis, while the Filipina made a number of uncharacteristic errors to silence the majority-Eala crowd.
However, the Russian was unable to put the hammer down, with the left-hander breaking back soon after and then edging out a one-hour-long first set 6-4.
Eala broke Prozorova early in the second set, only for the underdog to return the favour against the world No 18. The Washington Open champion had a chance to go up a double break in the second, only to be pegged back to 4-4 and eventually lost the set 7-5.
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The 22-year-old staved off a multitude of break points and went on to win the decider in a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory, as Prozorova set up a quarter-final clash with Xin Wang.
She was in tears after her three hour, nine minute victory, while Eala will now prepare for the Asian Games but this is not the ideal preparation for that tournament.
The Filipina received a bye into round two as the third seed and as a result she picks up just one point and remains 18th in the WTA Tour rankings.
This was arguably her worst defeat of the season, both in terms of losing to a lower-ranked player and the performance itself. She played in front of a packed stadium on Centre Court but the crowd couldn’t will her on to victory, despite having plenty of opportunities to do just that.
In the meantime, though, she has pocketed an extra ££9,835 in prize money. Incidentally, below are the ranking points and prize money on offer at the Singapore Open.
Singapore Open ranking points and prize money:
