By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala and her Lithuanian partner continued to make heads turn by storming into the doubles semifinal of the W60 Trnava 2nd Empire Women’s Indoor Tennis Tournament in Slovakia Thursday, March 9.
The unseeded Eala and Justine Mikulskyte stunned German fourth seed Vivian Heisen and Julia Lohoff, 7-5, 6-4, to inch closer to the title in the $60,000 tournament.
The victory was a fitting sequel to the duo’s 6-1, 6-0 triumph over hometown bets Ela Platenikova and Nina Vargova.
Eala and Mikulskyte, however, will have their hands full in their next match as they face British top seeds Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls, who downed compatriot Emily Webley-Smith and her Slovakian partner Veronika Erjavec, 6-2, 7-5.
The doubles win somehow erased the stigma of Eala’s second round defeat in the singles where the 17-year-old Filipina tennis sensation succumbed to British Sonay Kartal, 6-2, 6-2.
A triumph for Eala against Kartal could have arranged her a quarters meeting with Ukrainian fourth seed Daria Snigur, who outclassed Serbian qualifier Lola Radivojevic, 6-2, 6-1.
