MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis Alex Eala advanced to the WTA 1000 Madrid Open second round, taking down veteran and 12-time champ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, at the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium in Spain Wednesday.
Eala took the match in one hour and 31 minutes, ending the contest with a blistering serve and forcing a Pavlyuchenkova return to sail outside.
Eala faces world no. 21 and tournament's No. 19 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium in a rematch in the second round.
Mertens received a first-round bye.
Eala first took on Mertens at the Jasmin Open Monastir in Tunisia in October 2023, losing to the Belgian, 5-7, 0-6, in the round of 32 of the 250-tier tournament which Mertens eventually won.