Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok booked a spot in the Guangzhou Open doubles final after outlasting Katarzyna Piter of Poland and Janice Tjen of Indonesia in a tense three-set semifinal battle on Saturday in Guangzhou, China.

The 20-year-old Eala and Kichenok rallied from a set down to secure a hard-earned 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 victory in a match that lasted one hour and 49 minutes at the Nansha International Tennis Center.

After dropping the opening tiebreak, the Filipino-Ukrainian duo regrouped to dominate the second set and stormed ahead 4-1 in the decider. Piter and Tjen mounted a late fightback, but Eala and Kichenok held firm to seal the win and advance to their first final as partners.

They will face Eudice Chong of Hong Kong and Liang En-Shuo of Chinese Taipei for the title and the $13,200 (₱775,000) champion's prize. Chong and Liang earlier defeated second seeds Isabelle Haverlag and Maia Lumsden, 7-5, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Eala and Kichenok earned their semifinal berth on Friday after a straight-sets 6-3, 7-5 win over Polina Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova, finishing that quarterfinal in just 67 minutes.