Alex Eala scoops second juniors Grand Slam title in 2021 French Open

Alex Eala is once again a Grand Slam champion!

The Filipina tennis sensation and her partner Oksana Selekhmeteva overpowered the eighth-seeded pair of Russia’s Amarissa Toth and Hungary’s Maria Bondarenko of Hungary, 6-0, 7-5, in the 2021 French Open girls doubles finals Saturday night (Manila time).

The victory sealed a spotless Roland Garros run for the Filipino-Russian tandem after sweep victories in their four previous matches en route to the win tonight at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France.

The first set saw Eala, 16, and Selekhmeteva, 18, winning all six games in a matter of 20 minutes, 6-0, to move a set away from bagging yet another Grand Slam title.

In the second set, though, the Toth-Bondarenko duo pumped life back into their fight to bring it to a tie, 5-5. But Eala and Selekhmeteva found back their perfect rhythm to seal the deal, 7-5.  

Prior to stepping onto tonight’s clay, Eala and Selekhmeteva, who stand at no. 3 and no. 10 in the ITF juniors world ranking, respectively, have asserted mastery of Belarus’ Evialina Laskevich and Russia’s Alina Shcherbinina in the first and Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas and Finland’s Laura Hietaranta in the second round.

They also blanked Croatia’s Petra Marcinko and Hungary’s Natalia Szabanin last Thursday in the quarterfinals, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5) before dethroning the reigning champions Lisa Pigato and Eleonora Alvisi, 6-2, 6-1, on Friday night.

This will serve as Eala’s second juniors Grand Slam feat after winning the 2020 Australian Open juniors doubles title with Indonesian partner Priska Nugroho.

—JMB, GMA News