The road to the title gets tougher as Alex Eala and Coco Gauff will collide with a pair of Italians in the Round of 16 of the women’s doubles event of the Italian Open at the Foro Italico Stadium on Monday (Manila time).

Billed as one of the teams to beat, Eala and Gauff will be marching to battle against Tyra Grant and Lisa Pigato of Italy oozing with confidence after making short work of Alexandra Panova of Russia and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-3, 6-1, in the Round of 32 over the weekend.

They carved the victory in just 59 minutes of action, underscoring the dominance and superiority of the world No. 3 Gauff and world No. 70 Eala in this prestigious tourney that is part of the Women’s Tennis Association 1000 events.

The victory was a breath of fresh air for Gauff and Eala. For the American, it puts her on track to win the doubles title of the Italian Open after falling short in 2023 and 2024 while for Eala, it was her first ever win in the doubles event of the Italian Open.

But the road to glory isn’t easy.

The 17-year-old Grant is an distinguished doubles player who won the juniors titles in Grand Slam events like the French Open in 2023, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championship last year.

More than that, the United States-trained Grant is expected to be buoyed by the massive Italian crowd having been born in Rome that prompted the organizers to appoint her as the tournament’s official ambassador.

The 21-year-old Pigato, on the other hand, is also considered as a doubles specialist after winning the juniors doubles event of the French Open in 2020 with fellow Italian Eleonora Alvisi as partner.

The Italian pair, however, is coming off a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 win over Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Irina Khromacheva of Russia in the Round of 32.

But should Gauff and Eala succeed, they will advance to the quarterfinals where they will face either another Italian duo in Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini or the tandem of Kazakh Yulia Putintseva and Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

Eala said she hopes to win a title with Gauff to boost her morale heading into the French Open on 25 May.