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Tennis: Alex Eala, Russian partner power through to French Open junior doubles semifinals

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Rosy Mina

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/sports/06/10/20210610-alexeala.jpg"/><figcaption><p>Alex Eala and Oksana Selekhmeteva. <em>Photo from Rafa Nadal Academy  Instagram account  </em></p></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA—The quarterfinal clash between the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds in the Roland Garros junior girls’ doubles went in favor of top seeds Alex Eala of the Philippines and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia, 7-6(7), 7-6(5), Thursday in Paris, France. </p><p>They fought off the challenge of Petra Marcinko of Croatia and Natalia Szabanin of Hungary, who were playing aggressively from the baseline as well as the net. Their match at Court 13 lasted 1 hour and 39 minutes. </p><p>Eala and Selekhmeteva kicked off the match with a great start, pulling away with a 5-2 advantage. As the Filipino and Russian were serving for the set, a double fault yielded the 8th game to the Croat and Hungarian, who went on to win the next three games and take the lead for the first time at 6-5. </p><p>Eala and Selekhmeteva forced a tiebreak, which they opened with a mini break. They continued to lead until 6-4, but were unable to convert two set points. </p><p>At 6-6, a netted return gave Marcinko and Szabanin a set point that Eala and Selekhmeteva saved. The Filipino and Russian earned their third set point at 8-7, and a netted forehand handed them the first set, 7-6(7).</p><p>Service errors marred the first set as Eala and Selekhmeteva had six double faults versus the two double faults and three aces of Marcinko and Szabanin. </p><p>In the second set, Eala and Selekhmeteva limited their double faults to two and improved their first serve to 68% from 50% in the opening set.</p><p>They had an early lead again at 4-1 before Marcinko and Szabanin won the next three games to equalize at 4-4. Unrelenting, they figured in another tiebreak where Marcinko and Szabanin had a 2-0 lead. </p><p>It was neck-and-neck until the 11th point where a long return gave Eala and Selekhmeteva a match point at 6-5. A crisp volley from Selekhmeteva closed the match at 7-6(5).</p><p>Eala, 16, and Selekhmeteva, 18, will face the Italian duo of Eleonora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato in the semifinals. The Filipino and Russian, who are both junior grand slam doubles champions, have not dropped a set so far in their doubles campaign.</p><p>They ousted Evialina Laskevich of Belarus and Alina Shcherbinina of Russia, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round and defeated Sofia Costoulas of Belgium and Laura Hietaranta of Finland, 6-3, 6-1, in the second round. </p><p>In May, 2020 Australian Open junior girls’ doubles champion Eala and 2019 US Open girls’ doubles champion Selekhmeteva teamed up and placed as finalists in the W25 Platja D’Aro tournament in Spain.</p><p>Meanwhile, in the junior girls’ singles, No. 9 seed Selekhmeteva is also in the semifinals where she will face compatriot Erika Andreeva. No. 2 seed Eala bowed out in the opening round after being overpowered by Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1.</p><p>“Win some, lose some,” Eala said in a Facebook post, the 2020 Roland Garros junior girls’ semifinalist, Rafa Nadal Academy scholar, and W15 Manacor champion looking on the bright side with her doubles campaign still underway.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/08/21/tennis-alex-eala-partner-ease-into-french-open-junior-doubles-quarters">Tennis: Alex Eala, partner ease into French Open Junior doubles quarters</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/06/08/21/french-open-girls-doubles-top-seed-alex-eala-russian-partner-stroll-to-round-2 ">French Open: Girls’ doubles top seed Alex Eala, Russian partner stroll to Round 2</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1646596" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>MANILA—The quarterfinal clash between the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds in the Roland Garros junior girls’ doubles went in favor of top seeds Alex Eala of the Philippines and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia, 7-6(7), 7-6(5), Thursday in Paris, France. <br /> </p>

MANILA—The quarterfinal clash between the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds in the Roland Garros junior girls’ doubles went in favor of top seeds Alex Eala of the Philippines and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia, 7-6(7), 7-6(5), Thursday in Paris, France.