Alex Eala, partner sweep second-seeded foes in Spain pro tiff

June 16 ------ THE JUNIOR exempt players made it rain in the first round of W25 Madrid.

Alex Eala and doubles partner Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra came to a sweep of tournament second-seeds Robin Anderson of USA and Isabella Shinikova of Bulgaria, 6-3, 7-6(3), Tuesday night to move to the second round of the ITF $25,000 competition in Madrid, Spain. Eala, 16, and Jimenez Kasintseva, 15, are ranked at WTA nos. 630, and 713, respectively. Meanwhile, Anderson, 28, and Shinikova, 29, are in ranked higher the second, with WTA nos. 221 and 216.

The first set saw an exchange of rallies until the 3-3 mark, before the Filipina and Andorran broke away by sustaining their serves and breaking their opponents in the 9th game to take the set, 6-3. The following set saw an even tighter battle between the young duo and the older pair. They continued to hold their serves until a tiebreak at 6-6. In the deuce, Eala and Jimenez Kasintseva pulled off two mini breaks to advance and eventually secured the match at 7-6(3).

They will now move to the quarterfinals, facing Ashley Lahey of USA and Olivia Tjandramulia of Australia. Both Eala and Jimenez Kasintseva are fresh from the Roland Garros French Open over the weekend. The Filipina clinched her second doubles Grand Slam with Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva. In the singles draw, Eala will face home bet Andrea Lazaro Garcia in the first round on Wednesday (Philippine time).

Source: spin.ph