Alex Eala is slowly making her way back into the top 32 of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings after a positive start in the Madrid Open in Spain.

The 20-year-old Eala currently sits at No. 41 in the live rankings after winning her first-round matches in singles and doubles in this WTA 1000 tournament.

Eala, who is ranked No. 44, swept former world No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, in the Round of 128 in just 91 minutes last Wednesday.

The Rafael Nadal Academy alumna then joined forces with world No. 67 Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey as they breezed past Chan Hao Ching of Chinese Taipei and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-2, 6-2, last Thursday to advance to the Last 16.

Eala said she feels she has improved compared to last year after being exposed to frequent high-level competition on the WTA Tour.

“In general, I’m a better player this year now, at this moment, than I was last year, so I’m really confident with that. I’ve had some struggles on clay before, but I’ve also had some really great matches, so I’m really excited to see,” Eala said.

Eala also said she has adjusted to managing her time on and off the court despite competing in large tournaments like the Madrid Open.

“I think everything that I do is part of the dream that I’ve had since I was young. It can become repetitive, especially on tour, because you have this rigorous routine of training, then gym, then training again, then gym again,” Eala said.

“But I think events like these and the little things like having dinner with your friends really make life more special. I think it allows you to appreciate the moments on court more when you have more moments off court like this.”

Eala is currently battling world No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium in the Round of 64 as of press time.

In the event she wins, Eala will make it to the Last 32 of the Madrid Open for the first time and will earn 54,110 euros or P3.8 million.

She and Sonmez will also face Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States in the Last 16.