‘Give Back to My Country’: Alex Eala’s Emotional Message After Wuhan Open 2026 Shock Loss Wins Filipino Fans’ Support

Alex Eala’s Wuhan Open 2026 campaign ended earlier than expected, but the Filipina star’s message about representing her country has offered her supporters a reason to look beyond the result. The world No. 19 suffered a shock 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Chinese qualifier Shi Han, ranked No. 217, in the first round of the WTA 1000 tournament on Monday, October 12. Eala won the opening set but could not maintain her advantage as Shi fought back to claim the biggest victory of her career. The match lasted two hours and 27 minutes.

“The most I can do, I feel at the moment, is to give back to my country and to my fellow Filipinos, is to just do my best and, you know, continue to work hard and try to inspire people and show them that this possible just through the things that I do,” she said in a press conference at Wuhan Open 2026. 

“My opinion [about the draw] is that there’s not going to be any easy matches,” Eala said. 

You Might Be Interested In

“And so what I’m going to try to do is take it match by match and try to, you know, focus one step at a time and try to bring out the best level that I can bring out.”