By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala and Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva dumped Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas and Finland’s Laura Hietaranta, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros Girls Doubles Tuesday night.
The top-seeded Eala and Selekhmeteva needed only 57 minutes in disposing of their rivals as they caught their rivals off-guard with their impressive net plays.
The victory arranged the Filipino-Russian duo a Final 8 date with the winner between Czech Republic’s Barbara Palicova and Canada’s Annabelle Xiu, and fifth seed tandem Petra Marcinko of Croatia and Natalia Szabanin of Hungary.
Eala and Selekhmeteva, who reached the finals of the $25,000 Spanish tournament last May, dropped their serve twice, but they were in firm control of the match.
They pulled away from a 2-2 deadlock on the way to a 30-minute first set win, a feat that made them more aggressive in the second frame that saw them take a quick 4-0 advantage.
Both Eala and Selekhmeteva are gunning for their second Grand Slam Junior Doubles crown, with the Filipino bet winning her first at the 2020 Australian Open with Indonesian partner Priska Madelyn Nugroho.
Selekhmeteva, 18, on the other hand, triumphed in the 2019 US Open Girls Doubles title with Latvia’s Kamilla Bartone.
