Eala, Gauff lose to defending champs, exit Italian Open doubles

MANILA, Philippines, May 15 ------ The Coco Gauff-Alex Eala pairing in the Italian Open doubles competition has reached its end. Gauff and Eala absorbed a tough three-set loss against Italian Open defending champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, 5-7, 6-3, 10-7, in their quarterfinal matchup in Rome. 

Errani and Paolini are the defending champions in the Italian Open. Last year, they defeated Gauff and Erin Routliffe in the final. The Eala-Gauff duo had a strong start, going up 5-3 in the first set. They were actually a point away from grabbing the first frame, going up 40-0, but the Italian pair climbed out of that hole and won the set with four straight games, 7-5. And in the second set, the Filipino-American duo dropped the first game but regained their footing. 

The two sides were kept in a 2-all set, but Eala and Gauff teamed up and won four of the next five games to force the third-set tiebreak. Here, the World No. 6 doubles’ players Errani and Paolini were just too good, breaking a 4-all deadlock en route to the grueling three-set victory in an hour and 36 minutes. 

The Italian side, ranked third in the tourney, won 45 receiving points compared to 33. Both won 31 service points apiece, while Eala and Gauff had three aces. This is thus the end of the road for Eala in Rome. She bowed out of singles’ action last week after a humbling two-set sweep at the hands of Marta Kostyuk. 

Source: mb.com.ph