Sea pair wows ’em

Eala, Indonesian pal stun heavyweights

MANILA, Philippines — Southeast Asian tennis made its mark in the Middle East as Filipina pride Alex Eala and Indonesian partner Janice Tjen stunned the higher-ranked tandem of Filipina-Canadian Leylah Fernandez and France’s Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 3-6, 10-6, in the WTA500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open yesterday.

Eala and Tjen scored the last four points of the marathon duel, breaking away from a deadlock at 6 to clinch a quarterfinal ticket at the expense of the celebrated duo led by nine-time Grand Slam doubles champion Mladenovic.

The SEA duo took the victory in one hour and 33 minutes, setting up a clash against either Ukrainian sisters Lyudmyla (WTA doubles No. 31) and Nadiia (doubles No. 63) Kichenok or the second seed tandem of Chinese Shuai Zhang (doubles No.7) and Spaniard Cristina Bucsa (doubles No. 22) for a seat in the Final Four.

“We are the SEA sisters. Go Southeast Asia,” said the 20-year-old Eala.

“We just won our first match in our first time playing together. Let’s go SEA,” added Tjen, 23.

Eala and Tjen are ranked No. 45 and 47 in the WTA singles but sit lower in the doubles division at No. 136 and No. 68 compared to the 23-year-old Fernandez (singles No. 25) at No. 80 and the 32-year-old Mladenovic at No. 55.

Mladenovic boasts a decorated doubles career, becoming the world No. 1 in 2019 after a six-title run in the Australian Open and French Open women’s doubles as well as three more crowns in the Australian Open and Wimbledon mixed doubles.

But the Filipina-Indonesian pair did not shy away from the fight.