Eala and Mexican partner Zarazua win 1st round of French Open doubles event – BusinessWorld Online
ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA scored her first-ever win in a Grand Slam main draw.
The Filipina pride made up for her early singles exit, teaming up with Mexican partner Renata Zarazua in hacking out a 7-5, 6-4 win over a British-Spanish duo in the 2025 French Open on Wednesday at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris.
Mmess. Eala and Zarazua erased a 2-4 deficit in the opening set before leaning on a quick 3-1 start in the second to complete the gritty sweep in one hour and 30 minutes against Emily Appleton of Great Britain and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain.
The Filipina-Mexican tandem will clash next on Friday versus Russian Anastasia Potapova and Serbian Olga Danilovic, who stunned the seventh-seeded pair of Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk of the United States, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Ms. Eala is coming off a 0-6, 6-2, 3-6 loss against WTA No. 88 Emiliana Arango of Colombia in the first round of the singles division.
A regular qualifier previously, it’s the first main draw stint of Ms. Eala both in the singles and doubles plays by virtue of her Top-100 ranking to earn direct qualification in any Grand Slam and WTA 1000 level tourneys.
Ms. Eala, who turned 20 last Friday, is currently No. 73 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking after reaching as high as No. 69. — John Bryan Ulanday
