FILE – Alex Eala of Philippines trains during the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 24, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. AFP
Making up somewhat for bowing out of the singles competitions in the first round on Monday, Alex Eala and partner Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia got through to the French Open girls doubles quarterfinals on Tuesday night after trouncing Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Laura Hietaranta of Finland, 6-3, 6-1.
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) match to be played on 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 Shcherbinina 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.
In other games in Paris, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Tuesday to advance to the French Open semifinals for the second straight year and end the Russian’s surprise run on the Parisian clay.
The Greek got revenge for his Australian Open semifinal loss to Medvedev this year and improved his Grand Slam quarterfinal record to 4-0 with a 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-5 win that teed up a last-four clash against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.