Filipina tennis phenom and Globe ambassador Alex Eala and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva took a step closer to the title as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2021 French Open girls’ doubles tournament with a dominant, 6-3, 6-1 win over the pair of Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Laura Hietaranta of Finland on Tuesday night at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France.
Eala and Selekhmeteva, who finished as runners-up in the W25 Platja D’Aro in Spain last month, were on top of their game and managed to wrap up the victory in just 57 minutes. Their opponents got the first game in the first set but that proved to be their high point as Eala and her Russian teammate broke Costoulas and Hietaranta’s serve in the fifth, seventh and ninth game to nab the easy 6-3 first set win.
With momentum clearly on their side, Eala and Selekhmeteva zoomed off to a 4-0 lead in the second before their opponents got on the board. Later, the 16-year old Filipina ace finished the game with a precise forehand winner that gave them the second set, 6-1, and the match.
Eala, who is the world’s no. 3 ranked juniors player, and Selekhmeteva, who is ranked 10th, will take on either the pair of Barbara Palicova of the Czech Republic and Annabelle Xu of Canada, or the due of USA’s Qavia Lopez and French Mathilde Ngijol-Carre in the quarterfinals.
