MADRID — Ahead of the Madrid Open, the Tennis Channel shared a graphic on X of Alexandra Eala’s projected route to the final. This might have seemed a touch premature for the world No. 72, who is 19 and has never entered a WTA tournament without a wildcard, but it looked especially so given her second-round opponent. Seemingly a footnote in Eala’s story was Iga Świątek, defending champion in Madrid, the winner of four French Opens, and already a contender to be the greatest women’s clay-court player of all time at 23.
There are limits to what can be read into a social media graphic, but Świątek’s up-and-down start to the year, which most recently saw her lose to nemesis Jelena Ostapenko at the Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, has lent an air of vulnerability to her tennis even on her favorite surface.
In this context, Thursday’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Eala was especially satisfying. All the more so since Eala, a talented left-hander from the Philippines, stunned Świątek in their first meeting in Miami a month ago. On that occasion, Świątek struggled to handle Eala’s angles and her omnidirectional forehand, overhitting on countless returns against a spinny but ultimately very slow serve.
Świątek had to dig deep to ensure she avoided another…
