WORLD no. 53 Alexandra “Alex” Eala of the Philippines and partner Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine won their doubles’ match at the Guangzhou Open on Thursday.
The two got past the fourth-seeded pair of Emily Appleton and Qianhui Tang, 6-4, 6-2, in an encounter that lasted 68 minutes at the Nansha International Tennis Center.
This put the 20-year-old Eala and the 33-year-old Kichenok into the quarterfinals against Polina Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova.
Kichenok is known as a veteran doubles’ specialist with 10 WTA doubles’ titles.
Kudermetova and Rakhimova put away Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand and Wushuang Zheng, 2-6, 6-3, 10-3, to arrange the clash with Eala and Kichenok.
It was Eala’s first win since her return to doubles’ competition since June, when she teamed up with Eva Lys at the Wimbledon Open.
Joining Eala and Kichenok in the quarterfinals are second seeds Isabelle Haverlag and Maia Lumsden, 6-4, 6-3.
Haverlag and Lumsden will go up against Alicia Barnett and Elixane Lechemia, who prevailed over I-Hsuan Cho and Yi Tsen Cho, 6-4, 7-6(3).
In easing out Appleton and Tang, Eala and Kichenok broke serve in the ninth game, and held fourth in the 10th during the first set.
In the second set, Eala and Kichenok broke service twice for the 5-2 advantage.
Earlier, Chinese-American standout Claire Liu held off Eala with her versatile, all-court game for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, upset win on Tuesday evening in the first round of the singles’ competition.
