By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala and Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera shocked their seeded rivals on Wednesday, July 19, to make their title campaign felt in the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Spain.
The unseeded duo showed great cohesion and chemistry in dispatching the second-seeded Ankita Raina and Prathana G Thombare of India, 6-2, 6-2, for a spot in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 event.
“First win of the week feels good,” Eala wrote on social media.
The victory set the Filipino-Spaniard duo a date with France’s Estelle Cascino and Latvia’s Diana Marcinkevica, who clobbered hometown bets Ainhoa Melli Fernandez del Moral Perier and Patricia Rodriguez Carretero, 6-2, 6-2.
Eala has never won a pro title in the doubles event and the 18-year-old hopes her partnership with Ribera will yield positive result.
They last teamed up in July last year where they reached the semifinal of the W25+H Palma del Rio also in Spain.
Eala is also focused on her singles campaign where she is scheduled to meet Romanian fifth seed Jaqueline Adina Cristian in the opening round Thursday, July 20.
The 25-year-old Cristian, ranked No. 123 compared to Eala’s No. 258, already boasts of three ITF titles this year alone – the last one in the W60 Zagreb in Croatia last May.
Eala, for her part, has been unsuccessful in her last four tournaments as she guns a follow-up of her W25 singles crown in Spain last month.
