Eala, partner take down No. 4 seed in Guangzhou Open doubles

Alexandra Eala of the Philippines plays a forehand against Marketa Vondrousova of Czechia during their first round match on Day One of the WTA 1000 National Bank Open at IGA Stadium on July 27, 2025 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images / AFP

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

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

Eala, 20, and 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 today.

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 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.

Eala, No. 53, wasted big leads in the second and third sets against 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 this December in Thailand.

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.