Coco Gauff led the way as she and Filipina sensation Alexandra Eala pulled through in their encounter Italian netters Tyra Grant and Lisa Pigato in the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph on Tuesday evening (Manila time).
Unleashing three aces in the second set allowed the 21-year old Gauff, ranked no. 22 in the world in the women’s doubles to advance with Eala to the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia’s Tennis Tournament, also known as the 2025 Italian Open.
Gauff and Eala, ranked no. 456 in the world in the doubles, took 66 minutes to put away Grant and Pigato at the Foro Italico
Scoring 19 points on 21 first serves, Gauff and Eala arranged a quarterfinals clash with another Italian pair Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani.
Paolini and Errani moved into the round of eight after they prevailed over Canadian bet Leylah Fernandez and Russian Yulia Putintseva, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
Hours earlier, the no. 4 seed Gauff played with control and focus to advance to the women’s singles quarterfinals for the second straight year, following a 6-1, 6-2t triumph over Emma Raducanu
Gauff took 79 minutes to dispose of Raducani and set a round of eight meeting with no. 7 Mirra Andreeva
The 5’9” Gauff has a 3-0 record against Andreeva, with wins at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2023, and again in Madrid earlier this year.
The singles rankings of Gauff and Eala are moving up and is projected to push to the no. 2 spot in in the live Women’s Tennis Association rankings.
The win over Raducanu assured Gauff of going back to her career-high ranking of world no. 2 in the updated WTA Rankings.
A big shakeup in the rankings is seen after Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula both exited Rome netfest at the third round stage.
Gauff, Eala reach Italian Open quarterfinals
