The Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor is at least 600 kilometers away from Madrid, but Alex Eala showed she feels right at home at the Caja Mágica, also known as the Manzanares Park Tennis Center.
Playing in the main draw of the WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open for the fifth straight year, the 20-year-old Eala produced her sharpest clay-court form yet after a methodical dismantling of qualifier and former world No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, in the opening round on Wednesday.
Though she has slipped to world No. 116 after beginning the year at No. 44, the 34-year-old Pavlyuchenkova has a proven track record on clay.
She has won three WTA titles on the surface and reached the 2021 French Open final, where she lost in three tight sets to Barbora Krejčíková.
Pavlyuchenkova also showed strong form in the qualifying rounds, defeating Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria and top seed Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine to reach the main draw.
Eala, meanwhile, had previously beaten Tomova in the opening round of the Madrid Open in 2025.
Playing in the second match of the day at the Estadio Arantxa Sánchez Vicario—the second-biggest venue at Caja Mágica next to the center court—Eala and Pavlyuchenkova were level through the first four games of the opening set.
The Filipina struck first, breaking in the fifth game to go up 3-2, before the Russian called for a medical timeout to receive treatment for her right hip flexor.
The pause did not disrupt Eala’s rhythm as she extended her lead to 4-2.
Pavlyuchenkova held serve in the seventh game and later earned two break points in the eighth, but Eala held firm, then broke again in the ninth game to clinch the opener.
Eala maintained control in the second set, racing to a 3-1 lead before Pavlyuchenkova finally broke her serve in the fifth game.
Eala responded immediately with her fourth break of the match to surge ahead 5-2, before serving out the victory in the ninth game to advance to the second round of the Madrid Open for the third straight year.
The world No. 44 Filipina is aiming to build momentum in the clay-court season after mixed results in her first two tournaments.
She reached the Round of 16 at the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz before bowing out in the first round of the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
She will face a tougher test in the second round against world No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium.
Eala will also see doubles action on Thursday alongside her good friend Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey.
They will face the duo of world No. 38 and former Wimbledon finalist Chan Hao-ching of Chinese Taipei and world No. 27 Fanny Stollár of Hungary.
