Alex Eala, Venus Williams bow out of Bad Homburg doubles after quarterfinals loss

June 26 ------ The dream pairing of Alex Eala and Venus Williams came to an end as the Filipino-American tandem fell to second seeds Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Bad Homburg Open on Center Court.

Eala and Williams briefly took the lead at 2-1 ,3-2 before Mihalikova and Nicholls got the break with a solid net game eventually closing out the set 6-3. The second set was tighter in the opening stages, with Eala and Williams getting on the board after trailing 2-0, cutting it to 2-1. But Mihalikova and Nicholls showed superb volleying and placement to lead 3-1 and 5-1 and wrapped up the match 6-3, 6-2.

It was still a memorable run for the pairing, who had defeated Alexandra Osborne and Catherine Harrison 6-3, 6-4 in the first round which marked the first time Eala and Williams shared the court as doubles partners. The popular pair got tremendous crowd support.

Venus with her sister Serena will be teaming up at Wimbledon, where they are six-time doubles champions at the tournament. The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles together. For Eala, the week in Bad Homburg ends with valuable grass-court experience in her pocket ahead of Wimbledon, where she arrives seeded 29 in singles.

The singles draw for Wimbledon will be done today.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com