Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Alex Eala and her Lithuanian partner made heads turn by storming into the doubles semifinal of the W60 Trnava 2nd Empire Women’s Indoor Tennis Tournament in Slovakia Thursday, March 9.
The unseeded Eala and Justine Mikulskyte fired at all angles to stun German fourth seed Vivian Heisen and Julia Lohoff, 7-5, 6-4, to inch closer to the title in this $60,000 tournament.
The victory came a day after Eala and Mikulskyte routed hometown bets Ela Platenikova and Nina Vargova, 6-1, 6-0, to jumpstart their campaign.
Eala and Mikulskyte, however, will have their hands full in their next match as they set up a duel with British top seeds Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls, who downed Great Britain’s Emily Webley-Smith and Slovakia’s Veronika Erjavec, 6-2, 7-5.
The doubles win somehow erased the stigma of Eala’s second round defeat in the singles where the 17-year-old Filipina tennis sensation succumbed to British Sonay Kartal, 6-2, 6-2.
A triumph for Eala against Kartal could have arranged her a quarters meeting with Ukrainian fourth seed Daria Snigur, who outclassed Serbian qualifier Lola Radivojevic, 6-2, 6-1.
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Credit belongs to : www.mb.com.ph
