Alex Eala teams up with Fil-Am Desirae Krawcyzk in Tokyo doubles

MANILA, Philippines — Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala teams up with Fil-American and 13-time doubles champ Desirae Krawczyk at the WTA 500 Tokyo Open doubles tournament. Eala and Krawczyk will face the Taiwanese-Japanese duo of Chan Hao-Ching and Miyu Kato in the first round on either Monday or Tuesday. Ranked No. 32 in doubles, the 32-year-old Krawczyk entered the consciousness of Filipino tennis fans after an appearance on "The Players Box" podcast last March. In the podcast, Krawczyk said that her Filipino mom, Maria, is an Eala fan so devoted that she planned on watching Eala at the Dubai Tennis Championships last February, almost forgetting that her daughter Desirae would be playing on the same date. Eala played and lost against Coco Gauff in the quarterfinal, 0-6, 2-6, on February 19. Desirae and Lyudmyla Kichenok battled Aleksandra Krunić and Anna Danilina in doubles on the same date, losing their quarterfinal match, 1-6, 6-4, 6-10. "She's like 'I'm going to come watch her when she plays on Thursday [against Gauff]'," shared Desirae. "And I was like, 'Mom, I'm going to be playing on Thursday.' She's like, 'Oh, oh, yes, you too. Yes, yes. I'm going to watch you too!'" A few weeks later at Indian Wells in March, Desirae...