Alex Eala and Oksana Selekhmeteva shook off the gutsy pair of Croatian Petra Marcinko and Hungarian Natalia Szbanin, 7-6(7), 7-6(5), in the quarterfinals. The pair advance to the semifinals of the 2021 French Open girls doubles tournament at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, Thursday.
The tournament’s number 1 pair had to avert a meltdown in the second set after leading at 4-1 to take the set and the match.
Eala again struggled throughout the match on her service game. The Croatian-Hungarian pair consolidated one of these breaks to take the 6-5 advantage in the set to threaten to extend their life.
Nonetheless, the Filipino-Russian pair stormed back in the following game and took the match into the tiebreak.
Eala composed herself of that final service game and perfectly timed the delivery. Selekhmeteva then punished the return at the net to complete a comeback at 7-5.
Eala and Selekhmeteva earlier did the same in the opening set. The duo ultimately took care of the tiebreak at 9-7, to bag the set advantage.
The top-seeds went up 4-2 after the Russian took the match’s first service hold. The Filipino could not close it out, though; she even coughed up three double faults in the eighth game. Nonetheless, Eala eventually closed the set out with two good serves for the 8-7 lead as they won the tiebreak and the set.
Eala and Selekhmeteva will try to book their place in the final when they face Italians Eleanora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato in the semifinal round.
