Fractional spaced equalizer + timing (clock) recovery
The answer is to NOT down-select to one sample per symbol until after using the Gardner Timing recovery since the TED requires 2 samples per symbol. If the equalizer is running at 2 samples per symbol, that is perfect for use with the Gardner; why would you down-select to one sample per symbol after the equalizer? You can downselect after timing recovery since at that point you have determined the precise sample location.

Also note that the fine timing adjustment can also operate on just 2 samples per symbol using polyphase filters! Below I show an example for a CDMA waveform before and after timing recovery using a Gardner TED at 2 samples per symbol with then with a loop filter adjusted timing using a polyphase resampler. There was no analog change in the sampling clock position nor an actual interpolation to a higher sampling rate (the polyphase filter design is based on interpolation but no actual higher sampling rate is used!).