MIXING her shots brilliantly from the baseline and at the net, Alex Eala surged past Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-3, 6-2 yesterday (noon in Spain) to kick off her campaign in the Mutua Madrid Open on a rousing note at the Caja Magica (Magic Box) in Madrid, Spain.
Ranked No. 72 in the world against a rival nine rungs higher than her, Eala bundled out the outclassed Tomova in just one hour and 16 minutes of breathtaking play.
But she won’t have time to dwell too much on her opening-round triumph as she meets a daunting familiar figure in reigning Polish champ and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the second round tomorrow.
Eala will have to dig deep in her bag of tricks if she hopes to reprise her 6-2, 7-5 Miami Open quarterfinal upset over the five-time Grand Slam champion nearly a month ago.
That humiliation obviously stung for Swiatek, who was a guest of honor when the Pinay netter graduated from the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in 2023, and definitely won’t be pulling any punches in their rematch.
But the way Eala performed sharply yesterday reminded one and all that she has what it takes to beat her fancied rival anew.
After trading service breaks in the first four games of the first set for a 2-all count, the Filipina finally held serve in the fifth set, then broke Tomova in the next after they battled through two deuces for a 4-2 lead.
Eala held serve in the seventh game to take a commanding 5-2 edge on the way to wrapping up the set in 46 minutes.
She took less than 30 minutes in the second set in asserting her supremacy over the Bulgarian, whose erratic forehand led to many mistakes.
Eala was able to pounce on Tomova’s weakness repeatedly while raising her own form up a notch in turning a 2-1 lead, spiked by a service break in the third game, to a 4-1 edge and was never threatened from thereon.
