After singles disappointment, Alex Eala roars into doubles quarters at Guangzhou

Dubai: Alex Eala’s singles campaign at the WTA 250 Guangzhou Open may not have gone as planned, but she found redemption in doubles. Despite having been away from doubles competition for a while, the Filipina star showed no signs of rust as she and Ukrainian veteran Nadiia Kichenok pulled off a major upset, defeating fourth seeds Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Tang Qianhui of China, 6-4, 6-2, on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals.

Eala will now aim for a deep doubles run to make up for the disappointment of her singles exit, where she fell in the first round to American qualifier Claire Liu.

The victory also extended Eala and Kichenok’s success against Appleton, whom both players had previously faced this year. In May, Eala teamed up with Renata Zarazua of Mexico to beat Appleton and Spain’s Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers in the opening round of the French Open. Meanwhile, Kichenok partnered with Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya to win the WTA 250 Prague Open in July, ousting Appleton and Isabelle Haverlag of the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

At the Nansha International Tennis Center, Eala and Kichenok once again proved too strong for Appleton. The opening set was tightly contested, with both teams trading service breaks twice in the first six games to stay level at 4-4. The breakthrough came in the ninth game, as Eala and Kichenok earned a crucial third break to move ahead 5-4. Appleton and Tang had two chances to break back in the following game, but the Filipina-Ukrainian duo held firm to close out the set after 40 minutes.

The second set remained competitive early on, locked at 2-2, before Eala — ranked No. 207 in doubles — and Kichenok shifted gears. They secured two more service breaks to win four straight games and complete the upset in straight sets.

This marked Eala’s first doubles match since July, when she and Germany’s Eva Lys bowed out in the first round at Wimbledon. Kichenok, a 10-time WTA doubles champion — including four titles with her twin sister Lyudmyla — entered Guangzhou fresh off a semi-final appearance at the WTA Japan Women’s Open alongside Ninomiya.

Eala and Kichenok will next face Russia’s Polina Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday, with a semi-final spot on the line.