Eala rolls on in Palma doubles

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala and Spanish partner Marina Bassols Ribera hardly broke a sweat en route to the Final Four as they made short work of their quarterfinal counterparts, 6-1, 6-3, in the W25 Palma del Rio in Spain yesterday.

Former rivals turned allies, Eala and Ribera rolled past Spain’s Marta Huqi Gonzalez Encinas and the United States’ Ashley Lahey in only 60 minutes to march on in the $25,000 tourney.

Their easy win was a follow-up to a resounding 6-0, 6-0 blanking of the Spanish tandem of Adriana Cortes and Patricia Rodriguez Carretero in the first round.

The Filipina-Spanish duo, seeded No. 4, will shoot for a finals seat against the top-seeded pair of Valeria Savinykh and Fanni Stollar.

Before teaming up here, Eala and Ribera figured in a thrilling finals of the W60 Madrid last month with the latter scoring a close 6-4, 7-5 win.

Meanwhile in the singles play, the WTA No. 337 Eala will face Jessica Ponchet of France in the second round today for a ticket in the quarterfinals.

Ponchet, the WTA No. 140, bested Savinykh with a gritty 6-2, 7-6 (9) win yesterday while Eala advanced as early as Wednesday after a 6-2, 6-0 win over Chile’s Jimar Geraldine Gerald Gonzalez.

Eala is gunning for her third professional title in Palma del Rio after championships in W15 Manacor also in Spain last year and W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand earlier this year.