Alex Eala extended her stay at the French Open as she moved on to the second round in doubles, taking a victory with Mexican partner Renata Zarazúa in their opening match in Paris on Tuesday (Wednesday, PH time).
Eala, who was booted out of the singles tournament earlier this week, connived with Zarazúa to beat Emily Appleton and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers in two tightly-fought sets, 7-5, 6-4, to march on to the next round.
The win came even as Eala and Zarazúa were forced to adjust due to an opponent change before the doubles hostilities began at Roland Garros.
Eala and Zarazúa dug deep in set 1, rebounding from an early 2-4 deficit, winning three straight games to seize the lead, 5-4.
Thought Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers extended the set after a love game win in game 10, momentum had clearly shifted to the side of Eala and Zarazúa as they won back-to-back games to draw first blood.
Buoyed by their first set win, the Filipino-Mexican duo began optimistically in set 2, leading their foes, 3-1, after a love game break on Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers’ serve.
Despite things getting interesting when the match was tied at 4-all after Eala and Zarazúa’s serve was broken twice, the duo rebounded just in the nick of time to finish off their foes in sweeping fashion.
Eala and Zarazúa closed out the victory with a break point conversion in game 10 of set 2.
They thus set up a second round clash with Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova at a yet to be determined schedule.
