EALA, NUGROHO REUNITE
The tandem that ruled the 2020 Australian Open — Alex Eala and Priska Nugroho — makes another run when it competes in the girls doubles event of the Junior Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.
Eala and Nugroho are seeded third and are still clashing with the unseeded pair of Erika Matsuda of Japan and Valencia Xu of the United States in the Round of 32 at press time in a bid to launch their campaign on a high note in this prestigious tourney where the world’s best young players are competing. The battle to another Grand Slam will not be easy. Despite ruling the Australian Open last year, with Eala going on to win the French Open recently with Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia as partner, the Southeast Asian tandem fell prey in its first ever competition on grass surface.
Well, it’s very important to keep wanting to improve and keep working hard whether you win or whether you lose.
Eala and Nugroho collapsed in the second round of the J1 Roehampton girls doubles tourney last week as they bowed to Barbora Palicova of Czech Republic and Radka Zelnickova of Slovakia, 4-6, 4-6.
Still, the 16-year-old Eala vowed to do her best to pull off a shocker in her first-ever Wimbledon stint.
“Well, it’s very important to keep wanting to improve and keep working hard whether you win or whether you lose. There are always going to be good times and hard times,” Eala said in a previous statement.
“That’s part of being a tennis player and being an athlete and everything else so I think it’s always important to stay positive and have the right people to keep pushing you.”
In singles’ play late Monday, Eala swept past Solana Sierra of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, in the Round of 64.
The world No. 3 netter and scholar at the world-famous Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy took control of the match early, pouncing on every opportunity to throw the Argentine off her game while hitting precision shots to cruise to an easy win.