An interesting partnership has formed up in the women’s doubles’ draw at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, also known as the Italian Open Tennis Championships 2025 in Rome.
Coco Gauff, currently the no. 3 ranked player in the world, will team up with the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala, according to the draw that was released Wednesday.
The 21-year-old American, now ranked no. 22 in the doubles, has never teamed up before with the Filipina sensation as their combo will be considered a wildcard entry.
So far, Gauff has had two runner-up finishes in the last two editions at the Foro Italico courts.
That was with two different partners, first Jessica Pegula in 2023 and Erin Routliffe in 2024.
As for Eala, it will be her doubles’ debut at the WTA 1000 level and with a superstar player at that in Gauff, who has won nine doubles’ championships in her career, including the 2024 French Open.
The Eala-Gauff tandem will meet Alexandra Panova and Fanny Stollar in their opening round encounter.
Defending champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini are playing on home soil as the No. 3 seeds. They will face China’s Jiang Xinyu and Wu Fang-Hsien,
Errani and Paolini are in the same bracket, where Gauff and Eala are in.
Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski are on top of the draw, while Katerina Siniakova and Zhang Shuai sit as the No. 2 seeds.
Earlier, Eala fell to Ukrainian netter Marta Kostyuk, 6-0, 6-1, on Wednesday night in the women’s singles opening round in Rome.
“I told her at the net, ‘It’s a rough road, but you’ve got it. Just enjoy it,” Kostyuk consoled Eala afterwards.
“I was thinking about it when I was playing my match today. I was like, ‘Wow,’ you know? Like, she’s going to make it. She’s going to be here, around. But it’s just, when you are young and you go through these kinds of days like you had today. Obviously, I could see she was struggling, and she didn’t feel good in these conditions. We all have those days. I particularly didn’t play good in Rome or Madrid ever! Everything is new, so it’s a difficult time. I would not want to be young again, to be honest,” added Kostyuk on her engagement with Eala.
Eala was unable to break Kostyuk’s game and the Ukrainian converted six of her 17 break points, and fired 19 winners to Eala’s three.
Kostyuk, who is unseeded, will next meet Russian-Australian pro and 14th seed Daria Kasatskina in the second round.
For her efforts, Eala will bring home 10 points and 13,150 euros, or around P825,320.
The 22-year old Kostyuk said she remembered the time when she was still starting during her match with Eala.
