Eala, Guarde survive foreign aces; Del Rosario, Tria lead boys’ charge

Alex Eala and Carlyn Bless Guarde survived a massive foreign onslaught and advanced to the next round of the Phinma-PSC International Junior Tennis Championships Week 2 Wednesday at Manila Polo Club.

Eala, the Week 1 champion, crushed Japanese Yuna Kadowaki, 6-2, 6-1, to advance against Korean seventh seed Sim Chae-hyun, who got past local bet Alexa Joy Milliam, 6-2, 6-3.

Guarde posted a 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 victory over India’s Smriti Bhasin even as five other Filipinos fell in the girls singles.

Eala, who at 13 years old is one of the country’s most promising talents, rode on the crest of her smashing success last week where she beat taller, older opponents to secure the title.

Guarde will have an even bigger task in the second round as she will face next top seed Janine Tjen of Indonesia, who booted out Tsai Yu-chin of Chinese Taipei, 6-2, 6-4.

Second seed Saki Oyama of Japan defeated Maria Gabriel Sandejas, 6-1, 6-1, to set a date with China’s Tian Fangran.

Things looked brighter in boys singles as Nio Tria, Marcus del Rosario and Vince Ej Tugade made it to the second round.

Del Rosario pulled off a stunning upset of eighth seed Zhou XianYao of China, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, while Tria drubbed Jerall Yasin of Indonesia, 6-3, 6-4. Tugade nipped Liu Kun of Chinese Taipei, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.