Filipina tennis superstar and Globe ambassador Alex Eala plunged back into action, teaming up with fellow junior exempt player Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra to turn away the second-seeded tandem of Robin Anderson of the United States and Isabella Shinikova of Bulgaria, 6-3, 7-6, and move on to the quarterfinals of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour W25 Madrid at the Ciudad de la Raqueta in Spain.
Fresh off winning the juniors doubles’ crown at Roland Garros, the 16-year old kept the momentum going, this time pairing up with the 15-year old Jimenez Kasintseva, who is the top-ranked juniors player in the world, to dispose of the Anderson-Shinikova duo who are ranked no. 221 and 216, respectively, in the Women’s Tennis Association singles rankings.
Tied at 3-3 in the first set, the Eala-Jimenez Kasintseva pair broke their opponent’s serve twice and held their own to snatch the first set, 6-3. The second set, though, was played on more even terms as the two teams fought to a stalemate, 6-6, to forge a tiebreak. There, the Filipina-Andorran got two mini-breaks late to win the tiebreaker, 7-3, and complete the straight sets victory.
Eala and Jimenez Kasintseva will next face off against the team of American Ashley Lahey and Australian Olivia Tjandramulia.
Eala is also seeing action in the singles competition and is set to take on Spanish netter Andrea Lazaro Garcia in the first round.