By MARK REY MONTEJO
The journey of ‘SEA-sters’ Alex Eala and Indonesia’s Janice Tjen came to a halt after losing to Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalíková and Great Britain’s Olivia Nicholls, 4-6, 2-6, in the doubles semifinals of the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open in the UAE Friday, Feb. 6.
Fresh off a quick work in the quarters, Eala and Tjen went toe-to-toe with Mihalíková and Nicholls early, tying the count at 4-all, but slowly lost steam in the face of their rivals’ brute strength – not to mention their chemistry,
From that sequence, the Southeast Asian aces tried to throw everything, including the kitchen sink to no avail.
With their win, the fourth-seeded Mihalíková and Nicholls earned a title shot against either American Sofia Kenin and Australian Maya Joint or US’ Desirae Krawczyk and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, who are vying for the last finals ticket.
Eala and Tjen, on the other hand, exited the competition after also being eliminated in the singles with the former as the latest following a 3-6, 3-6 quarters loss to Alexandrova
Tjen, for her part, stumbled to Russian Liudmila Samsonova, 2-6, 2-6, in the Last 16.
Named their duo as “SEA-sters”, Eala and Tjen opened their doubles run with a 7-5, 3-6, 10-6 escape over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez and France’s Kristina Mladenovic in Round of 16.
They followed it up in the quarters where they bested No. 2 seed Spaniard Cristina Bucșa and Chinese Shuai Zhang, 6-3, 6-3.
Both Eala and Tjen are expected to resume their Middle East swing as they plunge into action in two WTA 1000 events.
These would be the Qatar Open in Doha slated Feb. 8 to 14, and the Dubai Tennis Championships starting from Feb. 15 to 21.
