Alex Eala, Mexican partner march to French Open doubles 2nd round

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Filipina standout Alex Eala continues her French Open campaign in doubles action, advancing to the next round with Mexican partner Renata Zarazua

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala finally got her first career win in a Grand Slam event.

The 20-year-old Eala became the first Filipina to play in the women’s doubles of a Grand Slam when she and Renata Zarazua of Mexico triumphed in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, over Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain on Tuesday, May 27 (Wednesday, May 28, Philippine time) in the first round of the French Open at Court 9 of the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris. 

Eala and Zarazua were originally slated to face a different foe for their opening-round match — a formidable tandem in 2023 Australian Open and 2024 French Open semifinalists Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania. 

But Kostyuk and Ruse withdrew from the competition for reasons that remain undisclosed, giving the opening for Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers to come in. 

The late replacements, however, still outranked Eala and Zarazua. 

Eala jumped recently to 225th in the doubles world ranking after reaching the WTA 1000 Italian Open quarterfinals earlier this month with a tennis superstar partner in Coco Gauff. 

Zarazua is 94th in the world and made the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the Australian Open last January. 

Up several rungs above, Cavalle-Reimers ranks No. 80 in the world doubles ranking, while Appleton holds the 86th spot

Both Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers have previous Grand Slam women’s doubles experience, with the Brit advancing to the second round of the 2024 Wimbledon. 

Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers looked determined not to let the chance given them to go to waste as they got off to a strong start in the opening set by erecting a 4-2 lead. 

But Eala and Zarazua showed the Filipina-Mexican fighting spirit in them, erasing the deficit in a jiffy as they swept the next three games to regain the lead at 5-4. 

The Brit and Spanish tandem drew even in the 10th game, but that would not be enough to derail Eala and Zarazua, who swept the next two games to claim the first set, 7-5.

While the momentum carried over to the second set for Eala and the 27-year-old Zarazua, who jumped to a 3-1 advantage, their foes came back to rally.

Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers broke serve in the seventh game to enable themselves to tie the count in the eighth game. That would be the last time they would pocket a game as Eala and Zarazua won the next two games to claim the victory in an hour and 32 minutes.

Eala and Zarazua will aim to keep their run going in the second round, where they will face an even bigger challenge as they battle Serbia’s No. 1 player Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova of Russia. 

The Serbian-Russian pair stunned the seventh-seeded duo of Filipino-American Desirae Krawczyk and Caroline Dolcehide of the United States in the opening round, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Eala was shown the early exit in women’s singles of Roland Garros when she fell to world No. 88 Emiliana Arango of Colombia, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3, in the opening round on Sunday, May 25. – Rappler.com