Alex Eala teams up with American star for Italian Open doubles
· Yahoo Sports
Alexandra Eala’s Italian Open got off to a strong start with a win over Magdalena Frech on Wednesday.
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The Nicola Pietrangeli Stadium hosted Eala’s victory, where she overcame the Polish player 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.
After seeing off Frech, the 20-year-old is set to meet Chinese star Xinyu Wang in the next round of the tournament.
Speaking to Filipina media, Eala also revealed she’ll be taking part in the women’s doubles event.
Alex Eala to join forces with Hailey Baptiste in doubles
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images“Yes. Well, I signed up [laughing],” Eala said while speaking to Filipino journalist Dyan Castillejo on ABS-CBN News.
“I signed up with Hailey Baptiste but I don’t think the draw came out yet.”
Eala has participated in doubles events on five occasions so far this year.
In January, Eala and fellow youngster Iva Jovic reached the ASB Classic semi-finals before losing to Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.
Two weeks later, Eala and Ingrid Gamarra Martins were knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round.
In February, Eala teamed up with Indonesian player Janice Tjen. The pair were defeated by fourth seeds Tereza Mihalíková and Olivia Nicholls in the last four.
A month later, Eala again paired with Iva Jovic – this time in Indian Wells. The pair were unable to emulate their run in New Zealand, losing in the first round to Jelena Ostapenko and Hailey Baptiste.
The Filipina’s most recent doubles outing occurred in Madrid. Eala teamed up with Zeynep Sonmez, and the pair reached the second round.
Alex Eala on her hard-fought win over Magdalena Frech
“I think I’ve come a long way from last year,” Eala told ABS-CBN. “So yeah, it really means a lot because I think my team and I have really been working the past few weeks.”
“And I think that we’ve been able to put out just some things that we’ve been working on in competition,” she said.
“I’m really proud of myself because there were so many moments, especially in the third set, where she could’ve gone really far.
Eala also shared her thoughts on facing Wang next, highlighting the strength of the Chinese player’s serve.
“She’s a great player and a really great person. I think she’s super fun to be with. But she’s got a killer serve, killer ground strokes, very fit. And I think it will be a good match. It will be a good fight.”
If Eala gets past Wang, she could face Elena Rybakina in the Italian Open third round.
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