MANILA, Philippines – The WTA Mutua Madrid Open holds a special place in Alex Eala’s heart.
As a wildcard entry during last year’s edition, she rallied from a set down to prevail over then world No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the opening round.
Tsurenko was the highest ranked player Eala had beaten at that time and only the second who was ranked in the top 100. It was also just the second time Eala had advanced to the second round of a WTA event.
The 19-year-old Eala is aiming for a run similar to her historic performance in the WTA 1000 Miami Open where she defeated three former Grand Slam champions on her way to a semifinal finish.
The grind begins on Tuesday, April 22, 5 pm, Manila time, with a first round tussle against Bulgaria’s top player, world No. 64 Viktoriya Tomova.
The 30-year-old Tomova is coming off her best year in the WTA tour, reaching a career-high 46th in the world ranking in 2024 after making the second round of the French Open and the US Open.
The Bulgarian veteran has a WTA 125 title under her belt, the 2023 Chicago Challenger, and has also won 18 ITF titles. Her best result this year was a quarterfinal finish in the WTA 250 Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania last February.
The Filipina teen standout has already gotten her feet wet in the clay court season after seeing action in both singles and doubles of the 2025 Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal last week.
Although she was eliminated in the second round by world No. 137 Panna Udvardy of Hungary, 6-7 (4-7), 4-6, Eala said in an interview it allowed her and her team to see up close what else she needs to work on in her game as she transitions to a different surface.
Tomova, on the other hand, will be playing just her second clay match in the pro circuit for the year when she goes up against Eala.
The Bulgarian’s last tournament was the WTA 500 Charleston Open in the United States where she exited in the first round after losing in straight sets to 20-year-old American Robin Montgomery who is ranked 100th in the world.
Awaiting the winner of the Eala-Tomova encounter will be second seed and defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland who drew an opening round bye. Eala shocked the world last March when she prevailed in straight sets over the former world No. 1 Swiatek during the Miami Open.
Expect the 23-year-old Polish star to be eyeing a payback on a surface she is most at home at. Swiatek has been christened as the Queen of Clay after winning three of the last four editions of the French Open.
This is the fourth straight year that the world No. 72 Eala will be seeing action at the red clay court of the La Caja Magic in Madrid, just an hour and a half away by plane from Eala’s home base, the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca.
She went through the qualifying round in 2022 and received wild card spots to the main draw the past two years. – Rappler.com