Alex Eala, partner enter French Open girls doubles quarterfinals
FILE — Alex Eala of Philippines trains during the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 24, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala made up for her early exit in singles as she and partner Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia got through to the French Open girls doubles quarterfinals Tuesday night.
Eala and Selekhmeteva trounced Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Laura Hieteranta of Finland, 6-3, 6-1, in the second round.
Together they will gun for a spot in Final 8 when they clash against the winners between Barbara Palikova (Czech Republic)/ Annabelle Xu (Canada) and Petra Marcinco (Croatia)/Natalia Szabanin ( Hungary) who play Wednesday night.
Eala and Selekhmeteva, who made the finals of the W25 Platja D’ Aro last month, are top seeds in the meet.
They barged into the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Evialina Laskevich of Belarus and Alina Shecherbinina of Russia.
Eala bowed out of the singles competition following a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 upset loss to Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain last Monday.
But the 16-year-old Filipino hotshot is hoping to nail her second Grand Slam girls doubles title after the 2020 Australian Open with Priska Nugroho of Indonesia.
