Alexandra Eala has suffered an early exit from the Qatar Open, losing her opening match against Tereza Valentova.
Eala was beaten 6-7(6-8), 1-6 by Valentova, with their round of 64 match in Doha lasting one hour and 32 minutes.
The defeat arrives despite Eala rising to 40th in the world rankings following her run to the quarterfinals of the Abu Dhabi Open.
The WTA rising star also reached that stage of the Philippine Women’s Open, having suffered a first round exit at the Australian Open.
Eala received huge support in Melbourne just before that early exit, and the same scenario has now played out at the Qatar Open.
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Alexandra Eala ‘immensely grateful’ for fans after early Qatar Open exit
Eala shared a video on her Instagram story of the huge volume of fans who turned up in Doha to share their support.
She added the caption: “Immensely grateful for the people who continuously show up for me and the sport. You all inspire me every day.”
Eala has already proven more popular than Carlos Alcaraz, despite the 20-year-old having only really just started her WTA career.
The new world number 40, a product of the Rafael Nadal Academy, has rapidly become one of the most popular figures in tennis.
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Qatar Open fully up and running with exciting ties and early upsets
It was a shock result for Eala, but Valentova has indeed been impressing on the WTA Tour in recent times too.
The 18-year-old is also in the top 50 of the world rankings, and battled through qualifying in Doha before knocking out Eala.
The Czech star now faces her compatriot Karolina Muchova in the next round, one of many exciting ties at such an early stage of proceedings.
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Elsewhere, rising star Victoria Mboko meets former world number two Vera Zvonareva, and Maria Sakkari takes on Jasmine Paolini.
Also going head-to-head in Doha are eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and 2025 runner-up Jelena Ostapenko, while Qinwen Zheng has made a successful return from injury.
But early upsets have also been a familiar theme, with Emma Raducanu retiring in her first match, as well as defending champion Amanda Anisimova.
Leylah Fernandez and Sofia Kenin are also already out of the event, along with seeded players Clara Tauson, Liudmila Samsonova and Diana Shnaider.
The excitement follows the disappointment of several high-profile withdrawals, namely WTA number one Aryna Sabalenka.
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