You could argue that in spite of her tremendous athleticism and success on hard courts that Coco Gauff‘s best surface is the clay court.
She was an Italian Open doubles finalist last year with Erin Routliffe. The pair lost to hometown heroes and future Paris Olympic gold medalists, Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani.
That’s why it is not surprising to find Gauff in the latter rounds of the Italian Open in both singles and doubles with her doubles partner Alex Eala, a up-and-coming star, that Gauff is just getting to know.
Their friendship and chemistry on court has grown with each match. On Tuesday, they handed the Italian pair of Tyra Caterina Grant and Lisa Pigato a 6-2, 6-3 loss.
This sets up an epic quarterfinal match with the defending champions.
Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala Are Fun To Watch
Despite never playing together before, Gauff and Eala have yet to drop a set. In fact, they have not been in jeopardy of losing a set through two rounds.
Paolini and Errani persevered in a tough battle with Yulia Putintseva and Leylah Fernandez in the Round of 16, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
Of course, Paolini and Errani will have the crowd support, something that really helped Paolini in her singles match against Diana Shnaider on Tuesday.
Gauff will be playing two matches on Wednesday. In addition to the doubles quarterfinal, she will face Mirra Andreeva in the singles quarterfinal. Presumably the conditions will not affect her despite wreaking havok with Peyton Stearns on Monday. Stearns barely survived her singles win over Naomi Osaka before becoming violently ill on the sidelines. As a result, she and Daria Kasatkina were not able to play their Round of 16 match against Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski, resulting in a Monday afternoon walkover.
Watch Coco Gauff and Alexandra Eala’s quarterfinal match against Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani on Wednesday, May 14, on the Tennis Channel. The match time is yet to be determined.
In the meantime, the duo is seeking help with coming up with a team name since Team Cochela is not a favorite.
WTA posts a video of Alex Eala and Coco Gauff, saying “Looking for a new team name! 👀”
Tennis fans are flooding the comments with suggestions!
Video from WTA Instagram pic.twitter.com/SYooZSjhm2
— Dyan Castillejo (@DYANCASTILLEJO) May 13, 2025
