Alex Eala and Mexican partner Renata Zarazua escaped the gritty plays of British Emily Appleton and Spaniard Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, 7-5, 6-4, to jumpstart their women’s doubles campaign at the French Open on Tuesday, May 27 (early Wednesday, Philippine time).
At A Glance
- Alex Eala and Mexican partner Renata Zarazua escaped the gritty plays of British Emily Appleton and Spaniard Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, 7-5, 6-4, to jumpstart their women's doubles campaign at the French Open on Tuesday, May 27 (early Wednesday, Philippine time).
Alex Eala advances to the women's doubles second round with Mexican partner Renata Zarazua. (File Photo/AP)
The unseeded Eala and Zarazua displayed on-court chemistry and cohesion in outlasting their rivals to advance to the second round in this Grand Slam event.
The win set them up a date with the dangerous Anastasia Potapova and Serbian Olga Danilovic, who shocked American seventh seeds Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk, who is of Filipino descent on her mother’s side, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The victory over Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers, however, didn’t come easy for Eala and Zarazua. The Filipino-Mexican pair rose from a 2-4 deficit to claim the opening set, and held their ground against their rival counters in the second frame.
Trailing 2-4 in the second set, Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers managed to tie the match at 4-all, before Eala and Zarazua kept their composure and claimed the next two games and eventually the victory after one hour and 30 minutes.
Eala’s doubles win came a few days after succumbing in her first-round singles match to Colombian Emiliana Arango, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.
Despite focusing on heEala, partner advance to second round in French Open double singles, Eala also proved to be a competitive doubles player with three International Tennis Federation (ITF) crowns with different partners and a recent quarterfinals finish with Coco Gauff at the Italian Open last week.