FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala and doubles partner Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia advanced to the quarterfinals (QF) of the 2021 French Open girls’ doubles on Tuesday night (Manila time).
The Eala-Selekhmeteva tandem made short work of Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Laura Hietaranta of Finland at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France, to keep its tournament hopes alive.
Mses. Eala and Selekhmeteva, who finished as runners-up in the W25 Platja D’Aro in Spain last month, surrendered the opening game of the match but once they got their groove, they were not to be stopped.
They broke their opponents’ serve in the fifth, seventh and ninth game to nab the easy 6-3 first set win then raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set and never looked back from there.
In the quarterfinals, the Filipino-Russian duo is set to face either the pair of Barbara Palicova of the Czech Republic and Annabelle Xu of Canada, or the duo of USA’s Qavia Lopez and French Mathilde Ngijol-Carre.
Ms. Eala, a Rafa Nadal Academy scholar and long-time Globe ambassador, is looking to win her second doubles title in a Grand Slam event. She and Indonesian partner Priska Nugroho won the 2020 Australian Open title. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo