One month after stunning Iga Swiatek in the Miami quarterfinals, Alexandra Eala will have another opportunity to play against the World No. 2 in the Mutua Madrid Open second round. The Filipina wild card secured the rematch by defeating Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 16 minutes on the first day of the tournament.
Eala`s impressive run to the Miami semifinals, which included wins over Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys, propelled her into the Top 100 for the first time. She is now at a career-high ranking of No. 72. Her 6-2, 7-5 victory over Swiatek was a significant upset, making their upcoming match highly anticipated.
Eala stated that she is not focused on the Miami victory and is fully concentrating on the Madrid tournament. `Now that the dust has settled, I try not to think about Miami so much,` she said after her win against Tomova. `The tour goes on, competition goes on, so right now I’m fully focused on Madrid.`
The 19-year-old is participating in her second tournament since Miami. In her previous tournament at Oeiras WTA 125, she was defeated in the second round by Panna Udvardy. However, against Tomova, she played aggressively, hitting 27 winners and converting six break points to win her first match in Madrid for the second consecutive year.
Swiatek, the defending champion, is also aiming to improve her recent performance. She was defeated in the Stuttgart quarterfinals by Jelena Ostapenko and has not reached a final since Roland Garros last year. A win against Eala in Madrid would be a crucial step for her, especially on her preferred clay surface.
Eala believes that their upcoming match will be different from their previous encounter. `I definitely think that each match is a different story,` she said. `Even if it’s against the same player every time… it’s going to be a different story than the last one.`
