FILE–Alexandra Eala of the Philippines celebrates a degree against Magda Linette of Poland during Day 5 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Al Bello/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala pounced on an erratic Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, rolling to a 6-3, 6-3 win in her 2026 Madrid Open debut on Wednesday night (Manila time) at Aranxa Sanchez Stadium in Spain.
Eala, hoping to show her fortunes around following a tricky start on clay, advanced to face one other battle-tested netter in Belgian World No. 19 Elise Mertens within the second round. Mertens reached a career-high rating of twelfth back in November 2018.
The round-of-128 match between the Filipino rising star and the 34-year-old Russian veteran seemed headed to a grueling three-set affair after the 2 split the primary 4 games.
READ: Alex Eala goals to get back heading in the right direction at Madrid Open
Alex Eala reaches the second round for the third straight yr in Madrid!#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/U4QtMuQnWM
— wta (@WTA) April 22, 2026
However the tide modified after Eala broke Pavlyuchenkova to like for a 3-2 lead with the previous World No. 11 needing to take a medical timeout. She returned to the court after just a few minutes together with her right thigh strapped.
Pavlyuchenkova wasn’t the identical since, making one mistake after one other. She shot herself within the foot with 39 unforced errors to Eala’s eight.
Still, the 20-year-old Eala knew higher to not let her guard down, keeping her focus to stave off a hard-fighting Pavlyuchenkova, who was in her seventeenth appearance in Madrid.
Eala broke Pavlyuchenkova to like again for a 4-2 edge within the second set before serving to like capped by an ace for a commanding 5-2 lead.