A legendary coach has assessed that Alex Eala “will be fine” after her shock loss at the 2026 Wuhan Open while also arguing that her serve needs “reconstructive surgery.”

World No 19 Eala was stunned 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 by 217th-ranked qualifier Shi Han in the opening round at the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan on Monday.

The 21-year-old, who was seeded 13th in Wuhan, was playing her first match since her defeat to Wang Xiyu in the semi-finals of the Asian Games.

Eala led 6-4, 3-2 against Shi, but she lost the next seven games to find herself 0-3 down in the decider before her 21-year-old Chinese opponent sealed the win in convincing fashion.

The Filipina is one place below her career-high ranking of 18th — a position she first reached in August.

In a post on X/Twitter, Macci revealed he was not concerned about Eala, but he also called for the left-hander to change her serve biomechanically.

“The Philippine Machine will be fine. A lot of boxes checked that spell top ten,” Macci wrote.

More WTA Tour News

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.

“The serve need reconstructive surgery and that is in the eye of a biomechanical beholder.”

The American, who is a former coach of Serena and Venus Williams, also made a point about Eala’s movement.

“Another area which is the X factor is her movement,” Macci continued. “Because she is the one throwing Flames she can dictate and does not have to play a lot of defense with make up speed.

“But if her ball speed or on the rise ball striking starts to diminish then the Machine is in a Filipino street fight to the finish.”

Macci has frequently identified Eala’s serve as an area for improvement this season.

In August, Macci said: “Ask any WTA player if they would rather return a slow 70 mph second serve lefty lollipop or an 85 mph lefty laser from the Philippine machine gun and it is a slam dunk answer.

“Tennis is a game of time. Speed kills. Once Alex rewires everything in sync from the ground up look for her second serve to have juice bite and hop and other players wish they still tasted the LEFTY LOLLIPOP.”

READ NEXT: WTA Rankings Race To Indian Wells: Iga Swiatek makes big decision as 6 stars fighting for 2 spots