Eala, Indon partner in semifinals

MANILA, Philippines — Filipina ace Alexandra Eala and Indonesian partner Priska Nugroho marched into the Australian Open junior girls’ doubles semifinals after disposing of French duo Aubane Droguet and Selena Janicijevic, 7-6 (2), 6-2, yesterday at Melbourne Park.

The No. 4 pair of Eala and Nugroho outplayed their seventh-ranked opponents in the tiebreaker of an extended first set then sustained the charge to handily win the second and wrap it up for a spot in the Last-4 against top seeds Kamilla Bartone of Latvia and Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic.

Bartone and Fruhvirtova advanced after downing Czech Linda Noskova and Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva, 6-1, 7-5, in the quarterfinals.

The Eala-Nugroho pair had to overcome deficits of 3-5 and 6-5 before forcing a tiebreaker in the opening set, eventually pulling away from a 2-2 standoff by landing two winners and getting three points off errors. Momentum on their side, the Filipina-Indon tandem raced to the 4-1 upperhand in the second and didn’t look back.

Eala’s triumph in the doubles somehow eased the pain from her numbing loss a few hours earlier in singles’ play.

The 14-year-old Eala, ranked No. 4 in the competition, couldn’t get her groove and fell to No. 6 Cody Wong of Hong Kong, 1-6, 3-6, to miss out on a quarterfinal berth.