YOU win some, lose some.
Rising tennis star Alex Eala of the Philippines and Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia waylaid the French pair of Aubane Droguet and Selena Janicijevic 7-6 (2), 6-2 yesterday and advanced to the semifinals of the girls’ doubles of the Australian Open Junior Championships at the Melbourne Park.
Eala and Nugroho tackle the top seed duo of Czech Linda Fruhvirtova and Kamilla Bartone of Latvia today.
Bu Eala, the country’s top young netter at 14, saw her bid for a quarterfinals berth in the single’s event come to a screeching halt.
She lost to Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong 6-1, 6-3 in their third round duel that ended her hunt for a maiden Grand Slam singles title.
Struggling to find her rhythm for most parts of the match, Eala had six double faults and committed 32 unforced errors against Hong.
A scholar at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain, Eala made it to the second round in both the singles’ and doubles’ events of the US Open last year.
Seeded fourth, Eala and Nugroho reached the final eight last Jan. 28 with a 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 victory over the Netherland’s Julie Belgraver and Slovenia’s Pia Lovric.
