Eala, Gauff breeze through next round of Italian Open doubles

MANILA, Philippines -- On to the next one.

The team of Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala and American partner Coco Gauff is heading to the next round of the Italian Open’s doubles after making quick work of the pair of Alexandra Panova and Fanny Stollar, 6-3, 6-1, Saturday (Manila time) in Rome.

With World No. 22 doubles’ player Gauff as her partner, the young Eala, ranked 456th in doubles’ play, will be extending her trip in Rome after an early exit in the singles’ division.

The first set was close, with the Panova-Stollar duo tying things up at two games apiece after being down 0-2.

But Eala and Gauff quickly asserted their mastery, winning the next three games en route to a 5-2 lead.

Panova and Stollar then held their serve and kept themselves in it, but the winning pair was just too much to handle and took the first set.

In the second set, Eala and Gauff dropped the first game, but found their rhythm and won the next six.

While Stollar and Panova had one more ace at three, Gauff and Eala won 31 service points compared to their opponents’ 19. They also won 25 receiving points to the losing pair’s 14.

This is Eala’s first doubles’ win since December last year. In the ITF United Arab Emirates 01A, she partnered with Greece’s Valentini Grammatikopoulou and won in the first round, before getting beaten in three sets by the pair of Isabelle Haverlag and Elena Pridankina.

In the Oieras Ladies’ Open last month, Eala and her partner, Katie Volynets, bowed out of the first round after absorbing a two-set defeat to Christina Rosca and Carmen Corley.

A few days ago, the World No. 70 singles player bowed out of the singles competition after being crushed by Marta Kostyuk.