Having stormed into the second round of the Madrid Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, Filipina tennis sensation Alexandra Eala is making headlines in Spain — not just for her tennis, but also for her multilingual skills.
Just three days after rubbing shoulders with the world’s elite athletes at the Laureus Sports Awards in Madrid, Eala turned on the style with her relentless play from the back of the court.
The world number 44 broke the Russian qualifier twice in the first set before winning the contest in one hour and 31 minutes.
Pavlyuchenkova, a former semifinalist in Madrid, struggled to cope with the rising star who was backed by her passionate Filipino fans at Caja Mágica.
“I feel really great. I love Madrid, it’s an amazing tournament. Every time I come here, I feel very comfortable, I feel like I’m at home,” said Eala, the highest-ranked player in Philippines’ history.
A national youth icon in the Philippines, Eala rose to the occasion by delivering a fantastic performance, drawing big cheers from the flag-waving Filipino fans in Madrid.
“Thank you very, very much, my fellow countrymen, to everyone who came to watch me here in Madrid,” she said.
A student at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Eala, then surprised the crowd by doing an interview in Spanish.
The video of the interview in Spanish was shared on YouTube by Mutua Madrid Open.
“Well, I try. It’s improving. And I’ve been in Mallorca for so long at Rafa’s academy, but since I travel a lot, I don’t spend as much time there. So, every time I go back to Spain, or Madrid, or Mallorca, it’s still improving. It’s getting better,” Eala said.
The left-hander grabbed global headlines with her stirring run to the Miami Open semifinal last year with emphatic wins over three Grand Slam winners, Jeļena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Świątek.
This year, Eala made the quarterfinals at the Abu Dhabi Open and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, drawing a huge number of Filipino fans to the stadiums for her matches.
Now she will hope to make a deep run in Madrid, a premier clay court tournament ahead of next month’s French Open.
“Every match at this level is a battle, all of us players fight until the end and she (Pavlyuchenkova) has been on the tour for many years. So I’m really happy with this win. She’s a great player and I’m really happy to be in the next round,” Eala said.
The straight sets win earned her a second-round clash with world number 19 Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Source: Khaleej Times