ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala is set for a Madrid Open return, continuing her clay season in the WTA 1000 tournament in Spain.
The tournament will run from April 21 to May 3, serving as Eala’s second stop in the clay season after the Linz Open in Austria which will take place from April 6 to 12.
World No. 29 Eala is already on the Madrid Open WTA website’s player list as of Saturday, joining defending champion and world’s top netter Aryna Sabalenka, No. 4 Coco Gauff, No. 6 Amanda Anisimova, and No. 10 Mirra Andreeva to name a few.
Whether Eala will be seeded in the tournament depends on how she will perform at the 500-tier Linz Open.
With only a 64-player draw, the Madrid Open will use the official rankings on April 20 to determine the top 32 seeds.
Unlike at the Indian Wells and the Miami Open, which have bigger player draws (96), seeded players won’t have a first round bye in Madrid this time.
They will still get a favorable draw since they will face a lower ranked player, avoiding a brutal matchup right away, at least on paper.
Bound to drop to 45th place in the official rankings on Monday, Eala needs at least a semis run to crack the top 30 anew.
A semifinal finish at Linz will give Eala 195 ranking points, elevating her total from 1,255 points to 1,450 in the live rankings.
A quarterfinal finish (108 points) would likely only get Eala to the 34th to 36th ranking range which wouldn’t be enough to get seeded in Madrid.
In the official rankings, Eala still has 1,525 points as it has yet to reflect the 270 points she lost for not matching her semis, 390-point finish at the Miami Open last year.
The official rankings will be updated this Monday.
Eala gained 120 points only this year in Miami for her round of 16 finish, falling to Karolina Muchova in the round of 16, 0-6, 2-6, last Tuesday.
This year’s Madrid Open will be Eala’s fourth time competing in the tournament.
She was given a wildcard to the qualifiers in her tournament debut back in 2022, and then wildcards to the main draw from 2023 to 2025.
Last year, Eala bowed to world No. 3 Iga Swiatek in their round of 64 encounter, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, as the Polish player got back at the Filipino who stunned her at the Miami Open quarterfinals just a month earlier.