MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala and Turkish partner Zeynep Sonmez face the elite Czech-American duo of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in a bid to make the Madrid Open doubles quarterfinals in Spain on Saturday.
The round of 16 (second round) match is set around 7 to 9 p.m. in Manila.
Wildcard entrants Eala and Sönmez dispatched the Taiwanese-Hungarian pair of Chan Hao-ching and Fanny Stollar in the round of 32 last Thursday, 6-2, 6-2.
Ranked No. 101 and No. 498 in the women's doubles rankings, respectively, Eala and Sönmez face the No. 2 Siniakova and No. 5 Townsend who ruled the Indian Wells and Miami Open doubles together last March.
Seeded No. 2 in this doubles tourney, Siniakova and Townsend kickstarted their Madrid campaign with a 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 win over Lyudmyla Kichenok and Desirae Krawczyk last Thursday.
Exiting the singles division with a 2-6, 1-6 loss to world No. 21 Elise Mertens in the round of 64 Friday, Eala looks to keep her Madrid campaign going through this doubles tourney.
Sonmez, on the other hand, stayed in contention in the singles draw with a 6-1, 6(4)-7, 6-2 win over Cristina Bucsa in the round of 64.
Sonmez faces Solana Sierra in the round of 32 on Sunday.