Alex Eala and Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine swept past home bet Quanhi Tang and Emily Appleton of Great Britain, 6-4, 6-2, in the Round of 16 in the women’s doubles of the Guangzhou Open in China last Thursday.

Eala and Kichenok only needed one hour and eight minutes to beat the fourth-seeded pair to advance to the quarterfinals and inch closer to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 250 title.

For the 20-year-old Eala, the victory is important, especially since she is coming off a heartbreaking  6-2, 4-6, 4-6 loss to Claire Liu of the United States in the Round of 32 of the women’s singles last Tuesday.

It was also Eala’s first WTA women’s doubles match since the Wimbledon Championships in London last June, where she and Eva Lys of Germany lost to Ingrid Martins of Brazil and Quinn Gleason of the United States, 4-6, 2-6, last July.

The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate hopes to earn her first WTA doubles crown and her second WTA title overall since winning the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico last September.

Eala and Kichenok are set to face the pair of Polina Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia on Friday in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.

Kudermetova and Rakhimova are coming off a hard-fought 2-6, 6-2, 10-3 victory over Chinese netter Wushuang Zheng and Peangtarn Plipuech of Thailand in their Last 16 match.