Alex Eala, partner punch semis ticket in Milan stint

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alex Eala and American partner Madison Sieg cruised through the Milan JA tennis tournament quarterfinals and got the better of Russians Ksenia Saytseva and Yaroslava Bartashevich, 6-4, 6-3.

The overpowering duo of Eala and Sieg brought the house down at the Tennis Club Milano Alberto Bonacossai in Milan, Italy as their full offensive artillery was on display.

Eala’s booming baseline strikes and Sieg’s variation of shots made it hard for the Russian pairing to read what kind of offense the opposition will bring.

It was a tightly contested first set as the Russian foes were able to match Eala’s baseline power and traded with their own bombs.

However, soon as Sieg was able to get her grip on the game and dominated in the net area, the momentum heavily swung their side.

Eala then took care of the second set after connecting on most of her power shots in the baseline and made it hard for the Russians to defend the net and move forward.

The mighty pairing will face another Russian duo in Kira Pavlova and Diana Shnaider in their highly-anticipated semifinals clash.