By REYNALD MAGALLON
Alex Eala picked up the pieces from an early exit in the singles event and bounced back in the women’s doubles as she and partner Estelle Cascino advanced to the quarterfinals in the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in France on Thursday, March 28 (Manila time.)
Eala and Cascino recovered from a first set hiccup to beat India’s Prarthana Thombare and Switzerland’s Celine Naef, 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 to wipe away the bitter taste of a 4-6,6-4,6-1 defeat at the hands of Germany’s Mona Barthel in the second round of the singles event on Wednesday, March 27.
Eala and her French partner Cascino will be against second seeded pair of Britain’s Emily Appleton and the Netherlands’ Isabelle Haverlag who, on the other hand, coming off a rousing straight set victory over their first round opponents.
The 18-year-old Filipina ace hopes to go all the way in the doubles event after failing to sustain the good start in her singles match.
She actually drew first blood in the second round match after breaking Barthel’s serve in the fifth game to gain the head start. T
he veteran netter however started to work in the second set and banked on her strong hits to break Eala’s serve twice and eventually tie the match.
Eala never recovered from there as Barthel, who was ranked 284th as compared the Filipina’s 171st, dominated the rest of the way to complete the reversal
She also continued her winning run to the quarterfinals after also pulling an upset against fourth seed Sachia Vickery of the United States in the first round.
