Eala also out of Italian Open doubles
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala and Hailey Baptiste of the United States got hammered by the powerhouse duo of Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and USA’s Taylor Townsend, 6-2, 6-1 for a quick exit in the Italian Open Tuesday at the Foro Italico Sports Complex in Rome.
Up against the second-seeded tandem, Eala and Baptiste succumbed in only 69 minutes of play as replacements for home bet Elisabetta Cocciaretto and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, who withdrew at the last minute.
The Filipina-American pair was No. 1 in the alternate list, thus getting the nod but to no avail as Siniakova and Townsend arranged a second-round duel against the Romanian duo of Sorana Cirstea and Jaqueline Cristian.
Eala and Baptiste never broke a serve by Siniakova and Townsend in bleeding for just three games won as the Czech-American duo flexed their muscles as one of the world’s winningest doubles specialists.
The 30-year-old Siniakova is currently the No. 1 doubles player with 36 WTA titles including a Tour Finals championship, 10 Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals while Townsend is world No. 2 with 15 WTA titles and two Grand Slam crowns.
They sit only behind the home pair of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, tied at world No. 4, and seeded No. 1 in Rome as the reigning champions.
And that caliber of Siniakova and Townsend was on full display right from the get go, racing to similar 4-0 starts in both sets for an easy sweep against the 20-year-old Eala, WTA doubles No. 88, and the 24-year-old Baptiste, WTA No. 129.
Baptiste was coming off a monumental 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the Mutua Madrid Open finals.
Both Eala (WTA singles No. 42) and Baptiste (WTA singles No. 25) exited in the third round of the Italian Open. Eala bowed to World No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-3, while Baptiste yielded to World No. 10 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-1, 6-2.
Up next for Eala is WTA125 Parma Ladies Open in Rome’s neighboring city from May 12-17 and the WTA500 Internationaux de Strasbourg Open from May 17-23 in France.
This will serve as her final preparations for the queen of clay that’s the French Open from May 24 to June 7, taking her first career third-round clay finish in Italy as a huge springboard.
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