Philippines netter eyes Jrs. doubles title

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Alexandra Eala moved on the cusp of grand slam glory as she and Indonesian partner Priska Nugroho roared to the Australian Open juniors girls’ doubles final after toppling their top-seeded semis rivals yesterday at Melbourne Park.

The fourth-ranked Eala and Nugroho showed steely nerves in the face of adversity, battling from deficits all throughout to seal a come-from-behind 1-6, 7-5, (10-8) three-set tie-break shocker over No. 1 Kamilla Bartone of Latvia and Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic.

Eala put herself in good position to become only the second Filipino to win a slam after Francis Casey Alcantara struck gold in the boys’ doubles play of the 2009 Aussie Open with Taiwanese partner Hsieh Cheng Peng.

The Eala-Nugroho tandem shoots for the tiara against Ziva Falkner of Latvia and Matilda Mutavdzic of Great Britain, who advanced at the expense of Americans Savannah Broadus and Elizabeth Coleman, 6-4, 4-6, (10-8), today.

The Filipina ace and her Indon partner didn’t get disheartened by Bartone and Fruhvirtova’s strong start all throughout their Last-4 encounter.

After blowing past Eala and Nugroho in the opening set, Bartone and Fruhvirtova threatened to complete a shutout when they seized a 5-4 lead in the second. However, the No. 4 seeds fought back hard and took the next three games to clinch the set and force a race-to-10 decider.

Bartone and Fruhvirtova stormed to seemingly commanding leads of 7-1 and 8-4 in the final frame, unil the no-quit Eala and Nugroho delivered a telling blow heading home. Eala and Nugroho strung up six unanswered points in the windup to steal the match and a ticket to the championship round.