Sourced online by Tracy Cabrera
MANILA — The highly anticipated team-up of Filipina star Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala and tennis icon Venus Williams did not disappoint the turnout crowd at the doubles event of the Bad Homburg Open as the two soundly drubbed the Australian-Canadian tandem of Alexandra Osborne and Catherine Harrison, 6-3, 6-4.
Eala was very much inspired playing alongside one of her childhood idols as she wasted little time finding the rhythm and chemistry to keep pace with Williams.
Despite persistent attempts from their rivals in the second set, the two outplayed their opponents to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 doubles event.
Eala and Williams, 46, set the tone early as they cruised to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Osborne and Harrison managed to cut the deficit to 5-2, but the Filipina-American duo stayed in control and closed out the set by taking the ninth game.
Osborne and Harrison then mounted a stronger challenge in the second set by grabbing a 3-2 advantage, but Eala and Williams quickly regained their footing, leveling the score at 3-all before reeling off the crucial games needed to complete the straight-set victory.
The victory set up Eala and Williams, a many-time Grand Slam singles and doubles champion, a meeting with second seed Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain, who routed the Chinese pair of Jiang Xinyu and Xu Yifan, 6-2, 6-3.
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