A CHANGE in the draw will see the pair of Alex Eala of the Philippines and Mexico’s Renata Zarazua facing the duo of Top 100 doubles players Emily Appleton of Britain and Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers of Spain, in their 2025 Roland Garros French Open Women’s Doubles first-round match.
Eala and Zarazua were originally set to face the Ukrainian-Romanian pair of Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse until a redraw made early Tuesday morning set them up against a different opponent.
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Their new match is scheduled for 9:00 PM on Tuesday, Manila time, just two days after Eala tumbled out of the singles competition at Roland Garros after a three-set loss to Emiliana Arango of Colombia.
Eala, with a doubles ranking of 225, is coming off a quarterfinal exit at the Italian Open women's doubles with partner Coco Gauff, while Zarazua recently suffered a round-of-16 loss in Strasbourg.
She and Zarazua, ranked No. 94, will be slight underdogs against Cavalle-Reimers and Appleton, ranked No. 80 and 86, respectively.
Eala is quite familiar with the Spaniard, having defeated her twice on the ITF Tour during her transition years from the junior circuit in 2021 and 2022.
In fact, Eala claimed her first-ever ITF pro title at the Manacor, Mallorca tournament at the expense of Cavalle-Reimers.
On the other hand, Eala lost to Zarazua in their 2024 meeting in Cary, North Carolina, USA.
Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers are known more for their doubles play than their singles careers.
Appleton and Cavalle-Reimers both competed in the doubles event of the Rabat WTA 250, with the former reaching the quarterfinals and the latter exiting in the round of 16.
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