EALA-SWIATEK REMATCH LOOMS IN MADRID OPEN

A POTENTIAL rematch against world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland awaits Filipino tennis sensation Alex Eala at the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain.

Ranked 72nd in the world, Eala begins her campaign against No. 64 Vikotoriya Tomova of Bulgaria on Tuesday at 5 p.m. (Manila time).

Should Eala beat Tomova in their round of 128 match, she will advance to the round of 64 where Swiatek is waiting.

Swiatek, 23, earned a bye to start her campaign in Madrid and will take on the winner between Eala, 19, and Tomova, 30.

There is a good reason to believe that Swiatek wants Eala to beat Tomova so she could face the Filipino again and beat her this time around.

Eala pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tennis history after taking down Swiatek in their Miami Open quarterfinals match, 6-2, 7-5, last month.

This Madrid Open is Eala's second tournament in the clay season following the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal.

Eala exited the said tournament in the second round after falling to Hungarian Panna Udvardy, 6(4)-7, 4-6, in the round of 16 last Thursday.

Used to playing on hard surface, the 5-foot-9 Eala acknowledged the difficulty in playing on clay but believes that she could eventually get the hang of it.

"I grew up on hardcourt, so it comes more natural to me. Maybe my game is a bit more suited to there, how to move. But not to say that it should change on clay," Eala said in the post-match conference.

"In the end, it's a court. Of course, maybe the bounce is higher, it's affected by the weather. But it can't make it such a big deal. It's nothing to change my whole game over. I believe that I can do just as well on clay as I can on hard[court]."

After the Madrid Open, Eala is expected to play at the WTA 125 Vich set from April 28 to May 4, WTA 1000 Rome from May 5 to 11, and WTA 125 Parma from May 12 to 18 before the French Open from May 25 to June 8.

2025-04-21T16:20:35Z