PINOY teen sensation Alex Eala combined superbly with former Spanish foe Marina Bassols Ribera yesterday to outclass the duo of Marta Huqi Espinas of Spain and Ashley Lahey of the United States 6-1, 6-3 and advance to the semifinals of the W25 Open Generali Ciudad del Palma de Rio in Spain.
Eala and Bassols Ribera, who beat the latter in the finals of the W60 VIII Open in the Spanish city of Osuna last June 19, needed less than hour in dispatching their rivals at the Polideportivo Muncipal el Pandero court in the $25,000 tourney organized by the International Tennis Federation.
Seeded No. 4, Eala and Bassols Ribera kicked off their drive by crushing the Spanish duo of Adriana Cortes and Patricia Rodriguez Carretero 6-0, 6-0, in the opening round last Wednesday.
They were scheduled to meet the top-seeded pair of Russia’s Valeria Savinyk and Fanni Stollar of Hungary in the semis today.
Eala, who beat Chile’s Jimar Geraldine Gonzales 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the women’s singles also last Wednesday, takes on French No. 2 seed Jessika Ponchet in the second round. — Bong Pedralvez
