Eala-Kichenok duo shocks fourth-seed pair of Appleton-Tang

ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA and partner Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine stunned the fourth-seeded duo of Great Britain’s Emily Appleton and home bet Qianhui Tang, 6-4, 6-2, for a roaring start in the WTA250 Guangzhou Open on Thursday at the Nansha International Tennis Center in China.

The Filipina-Ukrainian duo staged a 5-0 closeout from 1-2 deficit in the second set to complete a sweep in only 68 minutes of play and advance to the quarterfinals of the short 16-pair field.

While Ms. Kichenok is a double expert at No. 58 in the world, Ms. Eala is way behind at No. 207 compared to the. No. 80 Ms. Appleton and No. 69 Ms. Tang, making it a huge upset to barge into the next round.

This marked Ms. Eala’s sweet return in the doubles play after a first-round loss with Eva Lys of Germany in the Wimbledon last July.

Ms. Eala, 20, and Ms. Kichenok, 33, will shoot for a Final Four seat against the Russian duo of Polina Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova at a still-to-be-determined game time on Friday.

The Kudermetova-Rakhimova pair escaped with a 2-6, 6-2, 10-3 comeback win over Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand and Chinese Wushuang Zheng.

It’s a redemption of sorts for Ms. Eala after an early exit in the singles with a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 defeat to lower-ranked and unseeded American foe Claire.

Ms. Eala, No. 53, wasted big leads in the second and third sets against Ms. Liu, No. 305 and had to go through the qualifiers, for her third straight quick elimination.

She previously bowed out in the qualifiers of the W100 Wuhan Open and the first round of the WTA250 Japan Open.

Her next single stop for a second WTA crown after her WTA125 Guadalajara Open conquest last month in Mexico is the Hong Kong Open on Oct. 27 to Nov. 2 approaching a possible national team return for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) this December in Thailand.

Ms. Eala, winner of three bronze medals in the 2022 SEAG in Vietnam, is also slated to play in her first tournament at home when the country hosts a WTA Tour leg early next year to be branded as the Manila or Philippine Open. — John Bryan Ulanday