Eala, Sonmez join hands anew

Alex Eala teams up with world No. 67 Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey in the women’s doubles of the Madrid Open in Spain on Thursday.

Eala and Sonmez, who are also close friends off the court, join forces as they take on Chan Hao Ching of Chinese Taipei and Fanny Stollar of Hungary in the Round of 16 with the time yet to be announced.

It will be the 20-year-old netter’s fifth time to join hands with their recent stint taking place back in March at the BNP Paribas Open in California with home bet and No. 16 Iva Jovic.

The Rafael Nadal Academy alumna last won a doubles crown back in 2024 when she and Estelle Cascino dominated the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain after beating No. 301 Lia Karatancheva of Bulgaria and No. 818 Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia.

Eala is currently facing No. 116 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at press time in the round of 128.

Pavlyuchenkova, 34, won’t be a walk in the park for Eala as she reached as high as No. 11 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

The Russian netter even boasts 12 titles in her career and even made it to the final of the 2021 French Open before she was beaten by Barbora Krejcíkova of the Czech Republic.

Should Eala get past Pavlyuchenkova, she will face No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the Last 64.

She is already assured of 21,285 euros or P1.5 million even if she loses in the first round of the women’s singles and a share of 8,530 euros or P600,000for a first-round exit in the doubles side.

Eala is using the Madrid Open, a WTA 1000 tournament, as part of her preparation for the French Open in Paris from 24 May to 7 June.

A deep run in the Madrid Open could boost Eala’s rankings back into the top 32 as she is currently at No. 44 in the WTA.