Alex bounces back as Eala-Selekhmeteva advance to Roland Garros round two

June 8 ------ 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, to move into the second round of girls doubles event of the 2021 French Open, Tuesday (Manila time) at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The top seeds had a rough time all day long to dispose of the Belarusian-Russian pair, but it was the Filipino who 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 once more her serve veered away from being on point. Instead, the ninth game fell at the hands of the opponents and completed the latter’s three-game 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 was on the other end of a huge upset, bowing to Great Britain’s Matilda Mutavdzic, 4-6, 7-6, 1-6, in the first round of the girls’ singles event.

Source: tiebreakertimes.com.ph