Eala, Rivera roll past Hong Kong foes to advance in Asiad women's doubles tennis

MANILA, Philippines — It’s so far so good for the Philippine tennisters.

Following the steps of the other doubles teams, Alex Eala and Shaira Hope Rivera took care of their business with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over Hong Kong's Lai Ching Laam and Kallista Liu in the Achi-Nagoya Asian Games women’s doubles first round Tuesday at the Indoor Court B of the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Japan.

World No. 18 Eala and Rivera lost the first game as first-time teammates but were quick to find their groove for the win that arranged a duel against the No. 3 seed pair of Xinyu Jiang and Zhaoxuan Yang of China.

The Eala-Rivera tandem served out for the win with a love game capped by Rivera’s jumping smash at the net as they put on a 4-1 finishing run from 2-2 deadlock against Laam and Liu, who waged a stronger resistance in the second set after bleeding for just a game in the opener.

They mirrored the win of Rivera and Niño Alcantara as well as Stefi Aludo and Tenny Madis in the mixed and women’s doubles, respectively, keeping the Team Philippines’ medal bid alive and kicking.

The Rivera-Alcantara pair escaped with a 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 Round 1 win against Iran’s Meshkatolzahra Safi and Kasra Rahmani while the Aludo-Madis tandem drubbed Indonesia's Anjali Junarto and Meydiana Reinnamah, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Eala, for her part, will shoot for the first haul with at least a bronze medal bid against WTA No. 143 Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei in the women’s singles quarterfinals tentatively at 9 a.m. Wednesday (Manila time).

Court assignment, however, is still to be determined with organizers adjusting from the inclement weather that forced them to move the matches from the outdoor courts to the practice courts inside the tennis center.

The top-seed Eala, who had first-round bye, scored a whopping  6-1, 6-0 win over WTA No. 517 Patcharin Cheapchandej of Thailand, 6-1, 6-0, while the No. 8 seed Garland drubbed No. 1030 Mandegar Farzami of Iran, 6-1. 6-1.

Eala is out to win a pair of golds in the Asiad after settling for a twin bronze (women’s singles, women’s doubles) back in her continental debut in the 2023 Hangzhou Games all before her meteoric international rise.

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