Alex Eala, Venus Williams fall in National Bank Open doubles

August 8 ------ Iconic duo Alex Eala and Venus Williams fell to the pairing of Eri Kato and Liudmila Samsonova, 4-6, 3-6, in the first round of the National Bank Open doubles.

Kato and Samsonova raced out to a 2-0 lead before Eala held to pull one back at 2-1 in a quick, sharp game. The Japanese-Russian pairing moved ahead 3-2 then 4-2, but Eala and Williams produced a strong break to level at 4-4 and breathe new life into the set. But the momentum swung back.

A competitive game at 5-4 saw Venus broken, and Kato and Samsonova closed out the first set 6-4 in just 38 minutes of high-level tennis. The second set saw Eala and Williams trail 0-4. But the pair refused to fold, fighting back point by point to claw their way to 2-4. Yet Kato and Samsonova steadied to take the set 6-3 and the match.

Eala now turns her full focus back to singles, where she continues her campaign at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open against Caty McNally.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com