A handful of familiar faces could face Alex Eala as she faces the winner of qualifiers of the Madrid Open.

The 20-year-old Eala enters the main draw of the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event and sees action in the Round of 128.

The Rafael Nadal Academy alumna will enter the Caja Majica in Spain with confidence as she improved to No. 44 in the WTA rankings.

Names such as Donna Vekic of Croatia, Panna Udvardy of Hungary, Lulu Sun of New Zealand, are in the qualifiers.

Alycia Parks of the United States is among the former foes in the qualifying round and could face Eala in the main draw.

Parks defeated Eala last January in the first round of the Australian Open while Sun won her match with the Filipina ace in the semifinal of the Jingshan Open in China last September.

Meanwhile, Eala defeated Vekic in the Auckland Open in the Last 32 last January and took down Udvardy last September in the final of the Guadalajara Open in Mexico.

Should Eala win the first round in the Madrid Open, she will face world No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the Round of 64.

It would be a rematch of their 2023 Jasmine Open clash where Mertens defeated Eala in the Last 32.

Last year, Eala made it to the Round of 64 before she lost to No. 3 Iga Swiatek of Poland a few weeks after her explosion in the Miami Open.

The Madrid Open is just one of the two WTA 1000 events Eala will compete in the clay season as she will also join the Italian Open in Rome slated from 5 to 17 May.

But her biggest test will be the French Open in Paris from 24 May to 7 June.

If she does well in both tourneys, Eala could see herself back within the top 32 of the WTA rankings before the French Open and even earn a first-round bye.