Overtime

ALEX EALA, OKSANA SELEKHMETEVA CAPTURE FRENCH OPEN DOUBLES TITLE

Top-seeded pair Alex Eala of the Philippines and Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia were crowned as 2021 French Open Girls’ Doubles champions in Paris, France on Saturday.

/ 13 June 2021

The Filipina-Russian pair ousted eight-seeded Russia’s Maria Bondarenko and Hungary’s Amarissa Kiara Toth in their finals match with a sweep, 6-0, 7-5.

Eala, 16, and Selekhmeteva, 18 had a strong start for the match as they made a perfect score for the first set.

For the second set, the Russian-Hungarian duo posted a 3-1 lead against Eala and Selekhmeteva, however, the latter pair rallied back to tie the score to 5-5 en route to their 7-5 victory.

The Eala-Selekhmeteva duo made their debut at the W25 Platja D’Aro meet in Spain last month and ended their campaign with a runner-up finish.

Winning the 2021 French Open Girls Doubles on top of her 2020 Australian Open girls doubles’ title with Indonesia’s Priska Madelyn Nugroho, Eala became the first Filipino tennis player to win two Grand Slam Titles.

Sa lahat ng mga Pinoy na nanood, maraming salamat po,” Eala said during the awarding ceremony. 

“It’s actually (Philippine) Independence Day today, so I hope I gave my contribution to the country.”