Eala, Russian partner punch tickets to French Open doubles quarterfinals

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Alex Eala and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva are off to the 2021 French Open juniors’ doubles semifinals after crushing the pair of Belgian Sofia Costoulas and Finland’s Laura Hietaranta, 6-3, 6-1.

It was a walk in the park for Eala and Selekhmeteva as the fantastic duo were all over the place making it hard for Costoulas and Hietaranta to cope up with their pace.

The chemistry between Eala’s solid baseline game and Selekhmeteva’s aggressive closure in the net finally kicked in that helped them hold all of their services.

Costoulas attempted to turn things around in the second set after scoring on several down the line forehand passing shots but the winning duo quickly recovered to redeem themselves in the middle of the set.

Despite the first-round exit in the juniors’ singles category, Eala showed toughness and displayed her power to close the show and advance to the quarterfinals.

The prized Filipina tennis sensation is gunning for her second Grand Slam doubles championship title after taking the 2020 Australian Open girls title with Indonesian Priska Nugroho.