Alex Eala made amends of his shocking exit at the singles play as she and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva stopped the gutsy duo of Belarus’ Alina Shcherbinina and Russia’s Evialina Laskevich, 6-4, 6-4, Tuesday (Manila time) at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.
The duo move into the second round of girls doubles event of the 2021 French Open.
The top seeds had a rough time all day long to dispose of the Belarusian-Russian pair. In the end, though, the Filipino sealed the win with another well-placed drop shot at the net.
Eala had a chance to put away the match on her serve in the previous game, but again saw her serve game falter. Instead, the ninth game fell to the hands of the opponents, completing the latter’s three-game comeback from 1-5 down.
Nonetheless, with Selekhmeteva serving well and Eala doing her thing upfront, it was eventually game, set, and match for the PLatja D’Aro runners-up.
The top-ranked pair took the first set at a similar scoreline. However, it was a see-saw battle there, before the Filipino pulled off a rare service hold to take the 11th game and the set.
Eala and Selemekhteva will take on the winner of the match between Russians Ekaterina Maklakova and Maria Sholokhova; and Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas and Finland’s Laura Hietaranta in the next round.
Earlier, Eala featured on the other end of a huge upset. She bowed to Great Britain’s Matilda Mutavdzic, 4-6, 7-6, 1-6, in the first round of the girls’ singles event.
