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Eala, Zarazua bow out of French Open doubles after tough second-round battle


Alex Eala and Renata Zarazua exited the 2025 French Open women’s doubles tournament in the second round following a 1-6, 3-6 loss to Olga Danilovic and Anastasia Potapova on Friday at Stade Roland Garros in Paris.

The defeat ended Eala’s historic campaign at the French Open, where she became the first Filipino tennis player — male or female — in the Open era to compete in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam.

Coming off a first-round win on Tuesday against Emily Appleton and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers, Eala and Zarazua showed signs of rust as they were broken early and quickly fell behind 0-4 in the second set after dropping the opening frame.

Danilovic and Potapova dominated with nine winners at that point in the second set, while Eala and Zarazua gave away the fourth game on their serve due to two unforced errors.

The Filipino-Mexican pair managed to break back in the next game after needing three break points and nearly six minutes of play, with Eala finishing the game to cut the deficit and end their scoring drought.

Riding that momentum, Eala held serve in the next game, with the duo closing the gap to 2-4. They landed 83-percent of their first serves in, putting pressure on their opponents and forcing an unforced error from Potapova to end the game.

However, the European tandem quickly reasserted control, holding a love game for the fourth time in the match. They went on to take two of the final three games to seal the straight-sets victory.

#ReadMore  After 14-month layoff, Richard Corminal hopes for breakthrough

Danilovic and Potapova will face 12th seeds Tereza Mihalíková of Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of Great Britain in the third round.

Grew to appreciate various sports from tennis to judo. True-maroon kiddo since the new millennium. Fanboy. Singer. Occasional sports writer.


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