Alexandra Eala made a promising start to her Guangzhou opening match but still failed to end her losing streak after suffering a shock collapse and losing to a qualifier.
The Filipina, who was seeded at No. 4 at the WTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou, broke world No. 305 Claire Liu three times to easily bag the first set with a 6-2 scoreline.
Up by a set, Eala also went 4-2 up in the second set and appeared to be heading toward registering a routine straight-set win. But then, inexplicably, the Miami Open semifinalist suffered back-to-back breaks - lost the next four games - and the set.
Despite failing to get the job done in two sets, the fourth-seeded Filipina still had a good chance to win the match after opening a 3-1 third-set lead. But, once again, she allowed her lead to slip away as Liu won five of the next six games to overturn the deficit and complete a 2-6 6-4 6-4 win.
In the Guangzhou round-of-16, qualifier Liu plays against Anna Bondar.
Eala picks up her fourth consecutive defeat
For Eala, this was the fourth match in a row where she ended on the losing side.
Just before hitting a slump, the 20-year-old Filipina became a WTA champion in Guadalajara. And she some big hopes for her tennis future.
"Im very ambitious, I think everybody has huge dreams in tennis. To be world number No. 1 and to win Grand Slams is my dream, but in the bigger scale of things to be a professional tennis player and to reach this level is something Im already very proud of," she said shortly after lifting her maiden WTA title in Guadalajara in early September.
Despite her recent poor run, Eala still started this week enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 53 in the world.
