EALA, GAUFF EYE QF BERTH IN ITALIAN OPEN DOUBLES

FILIPINO tennis ace Alex Eala and world No. 3 Coco Gauff of the United States shoot for a quar-terfinals berth at the Italian Open women's doubles on Monday.

Eala and Gauff take on the home bets Lisa Pigato and Tyra Caterina Grant in their round of 16 match.

The Filipino-American pair got off to a strong start as they dominated the Russian-Hungarian pair of Alexandra Panova and Fanny Stollar, 6-3, 6-1, on Saturday evening.

World No. 70 Eala and Gauff banked on their strong service game in the round of 32 match as they hammered Panova and Stollar, 7-3, and in service points won, 31-19.

Breaking the opposition's serve wasn't a problem either for the Filipino-American duo as they topped the Russian-Hungarian in break points, 5-1.

On the other hand, Pigato and Grant outlasted the Kazakh pair of Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva in their opening match on Saturday, 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.

For the 19-year-old Eala, she looks to keep going after being booted out early in the singles division of the tournament.

Eala fell to world No. 27 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the round of 128 last Wednesday.

The goal is the same for Gauff who was still in contention in the singles play, facing world No. 32 Magda Linette of Poland in the round of 32 at press time on Saturday evening.

If Eala and Gauff overcome Pigato and Grant, they will face either the Canadian-Kazakh pair of Leylah Fernandez and Yulia Putintseva or another local duo of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani.

2025-05-11T16:30:02Z