Alex Eala and Zeynep Sönmez lost to Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska 2-6, 3-6 in the first round of the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open doubles on Tuesday evening.
Eala and Türkiye's Sönmez, fell behind 0-4 in the opening set, Philstar reports. They got on the board at 1-4, but were broken for 5-1 and dropped the set 2-6.
They won the first game of the second set before the Ukrainians reeled off five straight for 5-1. Eala and Sönmez took two more games before Kalinina and Yastremska closed it out.
Serve was the problem. Eala and Sönmez held only once in eight service games and were broken seven times, tennis.com match stats show.
The loss means Eala leaves Wuhan without a win. On Monday, the world No. 19 lost her round-of-64 singles match to Chinese qualifier Shi Han, 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, Inquirer notes.
Kalinina and Yastremska next face Anna Danilina and Zhang Shuai. Eala hopes to get back on track at the WTA 500 Ningbo Open in China later this month.
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