After a disappointing early exit in the singles tournament, Alex Eala got back on track as she and Renata Zarazua defeated the duo of Emily Appleton and Yvonne Cavallé-Reimers in the French Open doubles on Wednesday morning, May 28, 2025.
A Wire to Wire 2-Set Win
Despite the game not going to a classic 3-Set thriller, the Filipina-Mexican duo still had a hard time getting the victory considering they trailed during the 1st set with a score of 4-2.
But knowing the No. 69 player in the world, Eala definitely knows how to make a comeback more than anybody.
And so, the 20 year old tennis legend in the Philippines managed to crawl back and take the lead for their team, 5-4. Though Appleton and Cavallé-Reimers still made the first set interesting as they still managed to make it a close game, the tandem of Eala-Zarazua still prevailed to take Set 1.
Final score of Set 1: 7-5
In Set 2, both the superstar of the Miami Open 2025 and the No. 74 Zarazua looked like they had total control of the match. They were able to be on top with a score of 3-1.
However, the star of Great Britain, Appleton and the experienced athlete of Spain, Cavallé-Reimers, both have shown resilience as they tie the score, 4-4.
But Eala made sure that the horrors of the “failed comeback” she had against her singles match opponent Emiliana Arango won’t happen again. And so, Alex and Renata complete the win after a break point conversion in game 10 in Set 2.
Final score of Set 2: 6-4
This win of Alex Eala and Renata Zarazua was historical as Alex, the pride of the Philippines, will be the first ever Filipina athlete to record a win in the history of Grand Slam in Roland Garros.
Up Next: Second Round Doubles
With this victory, the duo are set to face Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova with both the time and schedule yet to be announced.
Potapova of Russia is ranked No. 37 while Danilovic of Serbia is ranked No. 34.
With opponents getting tougher and stronger, can Alex Eala and Renata Zarazua continue their winning streak and achieve their ultimate goal of winning the doubles championship?
