ALEX Eala and Croatian partner Petra Marcinko bowed of contention in the W80 Poitiers in France, absorbing a 7-5, 6-2 loss against Czech Republic’s Miriam Kolodziejova and Marketa Vondrousova yesterday in the doubles quarterfinals at the Comité Départemental De Tennis De La Vienne.
Fresh off a rousing first-round win, the Filipina-Croatian duo faltered in the crucial second set en route to a tough sweep defeat in only 65 minutes to miss out on a Final Four seat.
Ms. Eala, WTA No. 248, and Ms. Marcinko, WTA No. 283, could not counter the crisp attack game of the third-seeded Czech tandem, which converted 60-percent of their serves laced by three aces.
Unseeded in the doubles play, Mmess. Eala and Marcinko drubbed Yuliya Hatouka and Iryna Shymanovich from Belarus, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round, and looked headed into a big win over the favored counterparts with a 3-2 lead in the opening salvo.
But they stumbled and surrendered five of the last seven games for a narrow 5-7 defeat before being left off the dust at 0-3 in the second set on their way to the rough defeat.
Ms. Eala, 17, however is still in the running in the singles play with a scheduled Round of 16 match against Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia.
The Filipina pride escaped with a gritty 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(6) first-round win against Jessika Ponchet of France after dominating the qualifiers against two more French aces in Diana Martynov and Astrid Cirotte to advance to the main competition of the $80,000 joust. — John Bryan Ulanday
