Alex Eala and Indonesian star Janice Tjen created magic on court, defeating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and France’s Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 3-6, 10-6, in a thrilling opening-round doubles match at the WTA Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Tuesday at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre.
The Southeast Asian duo entered the match as heavy underdogs against their accomplished opponents.
Fernandez, 23, ranked 68th in the world in doubles, has reached the French Open doubles final.
Mladenovic, a former world No. 1 in doubles and six-time Grand Slam champion, had recently won the WTA 250 ASB Classic in New Zealand this January.
The match got off to a shaky start for Eala and Tjen, with Tjen being broken in the opening game, allowing Fernandez and Mladenovic to take a 2-0 lead.
But the duo quickly bounced back, winning three consecutive games to seize control.
The set remained tight, with both teams exchanging games until the score reached 5-5.
Eala held serve in the 11th game, and then the pair broke Mladenovic to capture the first set.
The second set followed a similar pattern at first, with Fernandez and Mladenovic jumping to a 2-0 lead.
Eala and Tjen leveled the score at 2-2, but this time the Canadian-French duo maintained their momentum, allowing the Southeast Asian pair only one more game before taking the set 6-3 and forcing a super tiebreaker.
In the decider, Eala and Tjen seemed on their way to victory as they opened a 4-1 lead.
The packed Court 1, filled mostly with Filipino fans, held its breath as Fernandez and Mladenovic fought back to tie it at 6-6.
That proved to be their final point in the match, as Eala and Tjen stormed through the last four points to secure their debut doubles victory.
Eala and Tjen will now advance to the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between second seeds Cristina Bucsa of Spain and Zhang Shuai of China; and the Kichenok twins of Ukraine, Lyudmila and Eala’s former doubles partner, Nadiia.
