MANILA, Philippines – Fresh from bagging her second pro title, Alex Eala hopes to sustain her winning form after earning a wildcard slot in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Mutua Madrid Open in Spain.  

The Filipina teen tennis star, who ruled the International Tennis Federation (ITF) W25 Chiang Rai two weeks ago, sees action on Tuesday, April 26, in the first round of the qualifiers of the €2,559,105 tournament that kicks off the clay court season of the professional tennis circuit.

Eala, though, will have to be at the top of her game when she clashes with Hungary’s Anna Bondar, the 24-year-old ranked 75th in the world and emerged champion in last year’s Argentina Open, a WTA 125 event. 

The winner of the Eala-Bondar encounter will face the victor of the match between Chloe Paquet of France and Greet Minnen of Belgium for a chance to earn a berth in the 64-player main draw of the tournament.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland is the top seed of the Madrid Open while world No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is the defending champion. 

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka of Japan and 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig also received wildcard slots to the main draw.

The Madrid Open will be the 16-year-old Eala’s second WTA event for 2022. She earned a wildcard spot in the main draw of the Miami Open last March where she fell in straight sets to world No. 59 Madison Brengle of the United States. – Rappler.com