AFTER a second round exit at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open singles tournament, Filipino tennis ace Alex Eala will take her act to the 125 Catalonia Open in La Bisbal d'Empordà, Spain.
The tournament will run April 27 to May 3, a perfect warmup for the 1000 Rome Open running from May 5 to 17.
It will be Eala's first 125 tourney since the inaugural Philippine Women's Open where she made a quarterfinals finish last January.
Eala has focused on joining the 500s and 1000s since Manila, playing generally well but struggling so far on the clay surface with a string of early exits.
While this Catalonia Open may be a 125-tier also known as a 'Challenger', it has drawn a pretty competitive field with world No. 25 Leylah Fernandez being the top seed.
World No. 44 Eala joins the field that includes No. 31 Wang Xinyu, No. 34 Ann Li, No. 42 Kateřina Siniaková, No. 43 Peyton Stearns, No. 47 Laura Sigemund, and No. 48 McCartney Kessler.
Dalma Galfi is ranked No. 117, although she ruled the tournament last year and is trying to defend her crown this time in a deep field.
The other players competing this year are Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Barbora Krejcikova, Ashlyn Krueger, Eva Lys, Anastasia Potapova, Kamilla Rakhimova, Antonia Ruzic, and Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Completing the main draw list are Mayar Sherif, Laura Siegemund, Solana Sierra, Katerina Siniakova, Yulia Stardubtseva, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Anastasia Zakharova.
Eala bowed to No. 21 Elise Mertens in Madrid singles round of 64 on Friday, 2-6, 1-6.
At press time, Eala was still playing in the doubles side with her Turkish pal Zeynep Sönmez.
Eala and Sonmez were set to face the elite Czech-American duo of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the round of 16 on Saturday evening.
Siniakova is No. 2 and Townsend is No. 5, respectively, in the doubles rankings.
They ruled the Indian Wells and Miami Open doubles tourneys together last March.
