The victory ensured Eala moved through to the second round of this WTA 1000 for the third year running. It also put an end to an alleged “curse” that her fan base has been tracking over the past 12 months since the Filipina dispatched Viktoria Tomova exactly one year ago today.
When the Quezon City native fell at the Miami Open, X user @ichpruens published, “The OVA curse continues. Karolina Muchova effortlessly defeats Alex Eala.”
On Tuesday ahead of Eala taking the court, X account @alexealastan was somewhat resigned. “Oh naur… Alex Eala will face (another ova 😭) Pavlyuchenkova at Madrid R1.”
Pleaded @APalaiz before her match, “Please beat the OVA.”
The references are just a few examples related to a peculiar streak Eala ended Wednesday. Coming in, she had lost eight consecutive matches against opponents with last names ending in “ova”—which notably contributed to her winless streak against Czech foes rising to 0-12 and arguably sees the stat still live on in country-specific form.
