Alex Eala and Russian partner Oksana Selekhemeteva opened their Roland Garros Girls Doubles campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 first-round victory over Belarus’ Evialina Laskevich and Russia’s Alina Shcherbinina early Tuesday, June 8.
The win came hours after Eala crashed out in the first round of the Girls Singles at the expense of unseeded Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Despite the singles loss, the 16-year-old Eala immediately went to work with Selekhmeteva in living up to their top seed billing to arrange a second round meeting with Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas and Finland’s Laura Hietaranta, who bested Russian pair Ekaterina Maklakova and Maria Sholokhova, 7-5, 6-3.
Eala and Selekhmeteva recovered from a 3-1 deficit by winning the next four games for a 4-3 first-set lead to dictate the tempo throughout the 1 hour, 23 minute match.
The Filipino-Russian duo was unstoppable in the second frame with 3-0 and 5-1 leads and never looked back.
Eala is gunning for her second Grand Slam Junior Doubles crown after winning the 2020 Australian Open Junior Doubles crown with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho.