Who is Alex Eala’s next opponent at the Madrid Open? Filipina faces world 21 and doubles Grand Slam winner
Alex Eala can expect a tough second-round encounter at the Madrid Open as she will face 19th seed Elise Mertens for a place in the last 32 in the Spanish capital.
The 20-year-old Eala secured a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over qualifier and 2021 French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her opener while Mertens had a bye into the second round as she is one of the seeded players.
The pair will now face each other for a second time at WTA Tour level with their first-ever career meeting taking place back in 2023.
Who Is Elise Mertens
Mertens was born on 17 November 1995 in Leuven, Belgium, to Liliane Barbe and Guido Mertens. She has an older sister named Lauren and it was her sibling who introduced her to tennis at the age of four.
The young Elise idolised former world No 1s and fellow Belgians Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters and ended up training at the Kim Clijsters Academy from 2015 until 2022.
Elise turned professional in 2013 and three years later she tasted title success in the doubles at the Auckland Open.
Her first singles title arrived at the 2017 Hobart International and the following year she enjoyed arguably her best singles season on the WTA Tour as she reached the semi-final of the Australian Open – her best Grand Slam performance – and won three WTA Tour 250 titles, helping her to peak at No 12 in the WTA Rankings.
