DEADLINE woes again forced me to write this piece hours before the match between Alex Eala and Diane Parry on Monday that, barring unforeseen events, would have started at approximately 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 (Philippine time), according to Dyan Castillejo of ABS-CBN.
It would be the Round of 32 of the Ningbo Open, a WTA 500 event set on the outdoor hard court of the Ningbo Tennis Center in Ningbo, the premier city of Zhejiang province in eastern China.
The 24-year-old Parry is currently ranked the No. 1 French women’s singles player, who won her first WTA 500 title last Aug. 30 in the Monterrey Open in Mexico.
Parry, reaching a career-high ranking of World No. 30 on Sept. 14, 2026, executes an elegant and rare one-handed backhand a la the legendary Roger Federer.
Currently ranked No. 32, Parry reached the fourth round of the 2026 French Open at Roland Garros.
In her breakthrough win in Monterrey, the 5-foot-7 Parry saved three set points to win the second set of her quarterfinal against Clara Tauson of Denmark.
And in the Monterrey semifinal, Parry, born in Nice, France, where our very own Eugene Torre earned his grandmaster chess title in 1974 to become Asia’s first-ever grandmaster, spectacularly saved seven set points to win the first set before eventually subduing American Ann Li.
Parry’s twin Houdini-like escape acts eventually netted her a 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens of Belgium in the Monterrey finals on Aug. 30, tying Eala at one WTA 500 title apiece.
Eala, 21, scored her maiden win since turning pro last year in the 2026 Mubadala WTA 500 Open in Washington DC, USA, in August.
Now, here’s one distressing news about Eala’s infant career: She’s out of the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, the season-ending series set Nov. 8-15 in California, USA.
The 5-foot-9 Eala was eliminated when she skipped the WTA 1000 China Open in favor of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, missing crucial ranking points.
At No. 18, Eala’s 2,181 points in the WTA Race to Indian Wells is way too far behind the cutoff threshold of No. 8 by Nov. 1, with No. 8 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic holding 4,354 points.
Oh, well, kudos still to Alex. She chose the right path — love of country over and above everything. She won the Asiad bronze in Nagoya that still glittered like gold.