By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Alex Eala and French partner Estelle Cascino routed their rivals to advance to the doubles final of the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in France on Friday, March 29.
The unseeded pair clipped the hard-serving duo of Kira Pavlova and Luxembourg’s Marie Weckerie, 6-3, 6-3, to inch one win away from winning the crown in the $75,000 event.
Partnering for the first time, Eala and Cascino, however, expect a tough championship match as they set up a title duel with top seed Maia Lumsden of Great Britain and hometown bet Jessika Ponchet.
The British-French tandem recovered from a first-set stumble and turned back unseeded Americans Carmen and Ivana Corley, 2-6, 7-5, 10-0.
This wouldn’t be the first time that Eala and Cascino are facing a seeded opponent in the tournament as they were coming off a quarterfinals triumph over second seed Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Isabelle Haverlag of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-0.
Eala is also familiar with Lumsden and Ponchet, having played against them in the singles match the previous years.
In fact, the 18-year-old top Filipina tennis player has clashed with Ponchet four times, including in the semifinal of the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain last year which the Frenchwoman won in three sets.
Cascino, for her part, has partnered with Ponchet the past years, even winning two ITF doubles titles.
Eala is looking at winning her first ITF doubles crown while Cascino, ranked No. 146 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles, eyes her 23rd title and first this year.
