Alex Eala breezes past top Bulgarian, sets rematch vs world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in Madrid

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A gripping rematch awaits Alex Eala as the Filipina tennis sensation marches to the second round against Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the Madrid Open

MANILA, Philippines – Last week was a warm-up of sorts for the clay court season. 

This week is when the big fights happen. And Alex Eala showed she is locked in and primed for battle, in time for a rematch against former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, whom she stunned just last month for the biggest win of the Filipina teen’s career.

Featured for the first time at the tournament center court, Eala overcame some testy moments early in the match before prevailing in dominant fashion over the top player from Bulgaria, Viktoriya Tomova, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round of the WTA Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday, April 22, at the Manolo Santana Stadium. 

With the victory, Eala will march to the second round where Swiatek, now ranked No. 2, awaits. 

Christened the “Queen of Clay” for having won three of the last four editions of the French Open, Swiatek will be coming in fresh from an opening-round bye. 

The Polish star saw action in last week’s 2025 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, where she was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko. 

Eala, on the other hand, exited in the second round of the WTA 125 Oeiras in Portugal last week.

Eala will shoot for a repeat over Swiatek, whom she surprisngly disposed of in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, in the Miami Open, in what has been dubbed one of the biggest upsets thus far in 2025. 

Before her breakthrough in Miami last March, the 19-year-old Filipina’s best result in the WTA tour was in the 2024 Madrid Open. 

She defeated then world No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, marking just the second time that Eala advanced to the second round of a WTA event.

Eala has now matched her best result in Madrid. 

She got off to a rather slow start and found herself facing a 1-2 deficit in the first set after world No. 64 Tomova broke her serve in the third game. 

Whatever confidence Tomova started to gain after seizing the lead, Eala made sure to diffuse right away. The world No. 72 Eala broke right back in the third game on her way to pocketing the next four games to go up, 5-2. 

Tomova — who reached a career-high 46th in the world ranking in 2024 after making the second round of the French Open and the US Open — earned a reprieve when she held serve in the eighth game to trim the deficit to 3-5. 

Eala made sure that would be Tomova’s last gasp as the Filipina closed out the opening set in the ninth game.

The second set began with both players scoring service breaks. But once again, Eala elevated her game to a level that the 30-year-old Tomova would not be able to keep in step with. The Filipina tennis ace zoomed to a 4-1 lead to wrest control of the set. 

A brief hiccup in the sixth game caused Eala to drop her serve, but she rectified the situation by immediately breaking Tomova in the seventh to go up 5-2. 

It was all over in the eighth game with Eala holding serve to end the match after an hour and 16 minutes. – Rappler.com