Alex Eala was unsurprisingly brimming with excitement at the prospect of playing the event in Madrid, for multiple reasons.
Chief among them is her ties to the Rafa Nadal Academy, where she spent the bulk of her young career whilst chasing the dream that she is realising today.
This is not her first appearance in the Spanish capital, nor was it her first win, but her return this year feels different.
After all, she appears to boast far more confidence at the top level, with a sense of belonging now justifiably evident from the way she carries herself both on and off court.
How would you rate Alex Eala’s first-round win /10?
She beat a former semi-finalist in straight sets!
Having claimed her opening-round win with ease, Alexandra Eala was unsurprisingly enthused.
She admitted as much when speaking afterwards on the Tennis Channel desk.
Alex Eala reacts after winning her first-ever match in Madrid
The Filipina superstar began by rating her level during the win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“Great,” she began, smiling as always: “I think the intensity was really high throughout the whole match, so I’m really happy to have been able to pull through.”
Then, touching on her serve, which has been a point of contention ever since she emerged onto the scene, Eala shared her delight at how well it had performed on the Madrid clay: “I think that was one of the things going into the match that I really had to focus on, was a good percentage of first serves.
“I know Anastasia is a big hitter, so I think that helped with my match today. And yeah, a lot to focus on.”
She concluded by assessing her relationship with the clay, admitting: “It’s getting better every year, I think.
“You know, in general, I’m a better player this year now at this moment than I was last year. So I’m really confident with that.
“Yeah, I’ve had some struggles on clay before, but I’ve also had some really great, great matches. So I’m really excited to see, you know, there’s a couple tournaments left, so I’m really excited.”
And yet, despite this win, Eala was told what she must improve to win a Grand Slam afterwards anyway.
Alex Eala’s record against her next opponent, Elise Mertens
Unsurprisingly, the draw ramps up significantly for Eala as she progresses into the second round, with Elise Mertens next up for the youngster.
These two have only ever played one match, and that came nearly three years ago.
Will Alex Eala’s serve stop her from winning a Grand Slam?
She only won 37% of her second serve points in her Madrid opener…
It saw the Belgian dominate proceedings, winning their showdown in Monastir 7-5, 6-0.
This trend of occasionally fading away in the later set is something we have still seen more recently from Eala, who can get blown off the court when she faces a player ranked far above her.
Alas, on this occasion, she meets Mertens on relatively equal footing, just 20 places below her in the WTA live rankings.
| Rank | Player |
| 20 | Ludmilla Samsonova |
| 21 | Elise Mertens |
| 22 | Anna Kalinskaya |
| – | – |
| 40 | Elisabetta Cocciaretto |
| 41 | Alexandra Eala |
| 42 | Lois Boisson |
A crafty player with explosive groundstrokes, it will be tough for Eala to quell this diminutive big-hitter. As such, it marks the latest big challenge for Eala to overcome on clay, a surface on which she is still learning.
It will be intriguing to see how she deals with Mertens’ power on this occasion, and if she can frustrate the former world number one in doubles and force her to make enough unforced errors to claim another victory.
