Alex Eala bounce back from doubles' defeat to punch girls' singles semis ticket in Roland Garros

It was history made by Alex Eala as the Filipina tennis sensation overcame her doubles' defeat to claim two consecutive three-set wins in singles play to punch her semifinal ticket at the French Open.

Seeing her third-seed in the girls doubles alongside American partner Elvira Kalieva gone to wast with their first round defeat to the Italian pair of Eleonora Alvisi and LIsa Pigato, Eala bounced back in her singles matches by overcoming Leyra Romero Gormaz and Linda Noskova in that order to advance to the last four in her debut at Roland Garros.

Her path to glory in Paris was made somewhat easier, as Andorran top seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva was upset in round 2 by Alina Charaeva in three sets, making the 15-year old the highest seed left in the competition that assured her the top spot in the next edition of the ITF Junior Rankings.

She was the first Filipino to make it this far in a Grand Slam juniors event in 36 years, when the legendary Felix Barrientos also made it to the semifinal of the Wimbledon boys' singles way back in 1984.

Eala took their third round win over the Spaniard 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in an hour and 48 minutes at Court 10 with the Filipina ace took advantage of Gormaz's seven double faults and won 60% of the points from the second serve.

In their quarterfinal however, it was the Czech who took initiative in the first, before the Pinay ace mounted the comeback to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in almost two hours of play in Court 12 with the latter winning 60% of her break points.

Third seed Elsa Jacquemot will be Eala's semifinal foe, with the local bet never dropped a set for the duration of the tournament.

PHOTO: ©Loïc Wacziak / French Tennis Federation