By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala booked her first pro doubles final as she and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva whipped the Dutch pair of Isabelle Haverlag and Suzan Lamens, 6-3, 6-1, in the W25 Platja D’Aro tournament in Spain Friday.
Teaming up for the first time, Eala and Selekhmeteva needed only 53 minutes in dispatching their unseeded rivals to get shot at the crown.
Their win set them up a championship showdown with Lithuania’s Justina Mikulskyte and Romania’s Oana Georgeta Simion, who cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Spaniards Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Claudia Hoste Ferrer.
Selekhmeteva, 18, boasts of five International Tennis Federation doubles titles, including two this year with partner Angela Fita Boluda in W15 events.
The Russian also won the 2019 US Open Girls Doubles crown with Kamilla Bartone.
Eala, who turns 16 on Sunday, also boasts of doubles experience in her junior year after having won the 2020 Australian Open Girls Doubles title with Priskya Madelyn Nugroho.
But the juniors scene is different, and Eala and Selekhmeteva need to play extraordinarily to beat their experienced rivals.
Mikulskyte, 25, has won eight ITF doubles titles while Simion, also 25, has won six doubles crowns since 2019.
