Alex Eala and her partner, Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey, kicked off their W50 Trnava women’s doubles campaign on a high note as they booked a 6-2, 6-4 win over Qianhui Tang of China and Liang En-shuo of Chinese Taipei at the TC Empire in Slovakia last Wednesday.
Eala and Sonmez took only one hour and 14 minutes to beat their foes and advance to the quarterfinals of this $40,000 tournament.
With the win, Eala and her Turkish partner will be facing the survivor in the Last 16 battle between the pair of lona Georgiana Ghioroaie of Romania and Aneta Kucmova of Czech Republic and the tandem of Francisca Jorge of Portugal and Anita Wagner of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Eala is seeking her second women’s doubles title of the year after she ruled the W50 Pune with Darja Semenistaja of Latvia as partner last January.
Meanwhile, Eala is battling Hungary’s Anna Bondar in the Round of 32 of the women’s singles event at press time.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate has a score to settle with Bondar after suffering a 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 loss in the quarterfinal of the W75 Porto in Portugal last week.
Eala, No. 180 in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, is also aiming for her first professional singles title in 2024 and fifth in her career after winning the W25 Roehampton in the United Kingdom last August.
The closest the two-time Asian Games bronze medalist came to a singles championship was at the W40 Petange in Luxembourg last November.
