THE FILIPINA ace is back in the French Open semifinals.
This year, though, she's made it to the doubles semis. As tournament top seeds, Alex Eala and Russian partner Oksana Selekhmeteva got the better of Croatia's Petra Marcinko and Hungary's Natalia Szabanin in a double tiebreaker, 7(9)-6(7), 7(7)-6(5) in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Roland Garros French Open in Paris, France on Thursday night (Manila time).
The Filipina-Russian pair were quick to lead the first set at 5-2. But they suffered three consecutive double faults, leading to a tie at 5-5, and then to a tie break. But Eala, 16, and Selekhmeteva, 18, were able to salvage the set point to draw first blood, 7(9)-6(7).
Coming into the second set, they swiftly established their momentum, leading with a 3-0 advantage before Marcinko and Szabanin scored their first point. But then their opponents rallied back and again locked the game into a deuce, 6-6.
On a tense race to 7, the tiebreaker was close, but the W25 Platja D' Aro finalists were quicker on the draw to seal the match at 7-5.
They will now move to the semifinals, facing the Italian duo of Lisa Pigato and Eleonora Alvisi.
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