By CARLO ANOLIN
Alex Eala and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva advanced to the final of the French Open Girls Doubles after routing Italian duo Lisa Pigato and Eleonora Alvisi, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinal round in Paris, France Saturday morning.
Banking on their new-found chemistry, the top-seeded pair only needed 53 minutes to beat their Italian opponents and set up a final showdown with eighth-ranked duo Maria Bondarenko of Russia and Amarissa Kiara Toth of Hungary.
Game 6 of the first set proved to be the match changer for Eala and Selekhmeteva, securing a 4-2 lead without dropping a point.
The top-seeded duo capped their dominance with another sweep in the next frame that all but disarmed their rivals.
In the second set, Eala and Selekhmeteva took the first two games before losing the third game.
But that failed to dampen their spirit, and instead pushed them hard to win the next four games for a chance to nail their second Grand Slam titles. The 16-year-old Eala won her first Grand Slam Girls Doubles title after bagging the 2020 Australian Open with Indonesian partner Priska Madelyn Nugroho.
Selekhmeteva, on her part, clinched her first in the 2019 US Open with Kamilla Bartone of Latvia.
