Alex Eala, Coco Gauff breeze past hometown bets in Italian Open doubles 

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The unlikely tandem of world No. 3 Coco Gauff and rising Filipina Alex Eala continue to surprise as they march into the Italian Open doubles quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala and Coco Gauff continued to make the tennis world pay attention to their surprise pairing, coming out triumphant in their WTA 1000 Italian Open women’s doubles second-round match on Tuesday, May 13. 

Eala and Gauff made sure to subdue not only their foes, but also the hometown crowd, as they scored a breezy 6-2, 6-3 win over Lisa Pigato and Tyra Caterina Grant of Italy to march into the quarterfinals at the Pietrangeli Court of the famed Foro Italico in Rome.

It was the second straight-set victory for the 19-year-old Filipina and 21-year-old American, who also prevailed in just an hour over Alexandra Panova of Russia and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round.

First-time partners Eala and Gauff battled a duo that was even younger than them, with the 21-year-old Pigato and 17-year-old Grant earning wildcard spots in the tournament. 

In the first round, the young local bets gave the home crowd something to celebrate as they rallied from a set down to pull off a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 upset over seventh seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Irina Khromacheva of Russia. 

But the world No. 3 Gauff and Eala made sure there would be no repeat comeback for the young Italians, sending a strong message from the very beginning when they jumped to a 3-0 advantage. 

There would be no opportunity for the locals to get back in the set as Eala and Gauff held a firm grip on the lead which they never relinquished. The first set was over in the eighth game.

Pigato, the 2020 French Open girls doubles champion, and Grant, one of the rising young talents in the game who won three Grand Slam girls doubles titles, were determined to not get blown away anew in the second set. 

After Eala and Gauff broke serve in the fourth game to go up 3-1, Pigato and Grant went on a run of their own, breaking Gauff in the fifth game before tying the score in the sixth at 3-3. 

Sensing the danger of allowing the crowd to energize their Italian foes, Eala and Gauff leveled up their play and swept the next three games to eliminate Pigato and Grant and close out the match after an hour and seven minutes. 

Eala and Gauff’s impressive victory earned them a spot in the quarterfinals where they will battle another Italian pair, defending champions Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani. – Rappler.com