TENNIS phenom Alex Eala teamed up with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva late Tuesday night to crush the duo of Spain’s Valeria Koussenkova and South African Warona Mdlulwa 6-2, 6-0 at the start of women’s doubles play in the Platja D’Aro meet in the Spanish coastal town of Platja D’Aro.
Eala and Koussenkova, a former US Open juniors doubles champ with Latvia’s Kamilla Bartone, needed 54 minutes to easily dispatch their foes in the $25,000 competition.
But the duo will have their work cut out for them when they take on the top-seeded Russian tandem of Vlada Koval and Sofya Lansere, who drew an opening-round bye, in the next round.
Eala, who has risen to No. 659 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, is also set to battle Spain’s Carillo Marin, who is rated No. 550 but has lost to the Pinay netter twice in recent competitions, in singles play last night.
Eala, the French Open junior semifinalist, beat Carillo 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the W15 Manacor on her own turf at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in January then prevailed again 6-1, 7-6 (6-2) at the W15 Castellon event last March. — Bong Pedralvez
