Alex Eala of the Philippines and Coco Gauff of the United States. Al Bello, Getty Images/AFP and Thomas Coex, AFP
The partnership between Filipina tennis star Alex Eala and Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff is off to a hot start.
Eala and world No. 3 Gauff opened their doubles campaign in the 2025 Italian Open with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-1 win over Alexandra Panova of Russia and Fanny Stollár of Hungary on Saturday.
It was an impressive performance for the first-time pair, who broke away from a 2-2 deadlock in the opening set by winning three consecutive games, and cruised from there.
For Eala, it was also a bounce back result after her disappointing defeat to Marta Kostyuk in the singles tournament.
Gauff and Eala will play the winner of the match between Italy's Tyra Grant and Lisa Pigato, and Russia's Irina Khromacheva and Kazakhstan's Anna Danilina in round-of-16.