Philippine tennis player Alex Eala crashed out in the first round of the 2026 Stuttgart Open in Germany, losing 6-1, 6-4 to Canada's Leylah Fernandez on April 14. It marks her third opening-round defeat this year. Fernandez, who has Filipino heritage, advances to the next round.
World No. 45 Alex Eala suffered a 6-1, 6-4 straight-sets defeat to world No. 25 Leylah Fernandez in the opening round of the Stuttgart Open in Germany on April 14, lasting 1 hour and 28 minutes. Eala mounted a comeback from 2-5 in the second set to reach 4-5, but Fernandez saved a 0-30 deficit in the 10th game to secure victory.
"Happy to get the win here," Fernandez said. "There is always that lapse in concentration. I’m just glad that I stayed positive as much as possible." The 2021 US Open runner-up, who entered with a 4-9 record this year, will face the winner of Italy’s Jasmine Paolini and Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez in the round of 16.
This marks Eala's third first-round exit in 2026, following losses at the Australian Open and Qatar Open. She had fallen 6-4, 7-5 to Jelena Ostapenko in the Linz Open round of 16 last week. Eala has not advanced beyond one win in a clay event since reaching the third round of 2024 French Open qualifying.
She is set to compete in the Madrid Open later this April.
