Alex Eala vows stronger comeback after early Madrid Open exit

FILIPINO tennis hotshot Alexandra "Alex" Eala vowed to come back stronger after an early exit at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open in Spain.

“That’s it for Madrid! So grateful for my time here. Will be back stronger," wrote Eala in an Instagram story Saturday, captioning a collage of her photos in action at the tournament.

Eala started her campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 win against veteran and 12-time champ Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in the singles first round last Wednesday.

The following day, Eala and Turkish partner Zeynep Sönmez defeated the Taiwanese-Hungarian pair of Chan Hao-ching and Fanny Stollar, 6-2, 6-2, in the doubles first round.

Eala seized 120 ranking points with the win, surging to a new career-high No. 87 in the doubles rankings with a total of 888 points in the live rankings.

Ranked No. 44 in singles, Eala ended her Madrid singles campaign with a 2-6, 1-6 loss to world No. 21 Elise Mertens last Friday.

Eala's doubles campaign with Sönmez also ended on Saturday, as they fell to the elite Czech-American duo of Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in the second round, 1-6, 5-7.

Despite the early exit, Eala still bagged a total of €47,195 prize money or P3.3 million for her entire campaign.

Eala pocketed €31,585 or P2.2 million for reaching the singles round of 64 (second round) and an additional share of €15,610 or P1.1 million for making the doubles round of 16 (second round) for the said total.

The 20-year-old Eala will now 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 in Manila where she made a quarterfinals finish last January.

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