Alex Eala eyeing a significant rankings breakthrough as she makes progress on clay

Kevin Palmer 23 Apr 2026 11:00 AM

Alex Eala attends the red carpet at the 2026 Laureus World Sport Awards

Alex Eala recorded only her second win at WTA 1000 level on a clay court win after a straight sets win at the Madrid Open and now she will be looking to take strikes up the WTA Rankings.

Eala beat 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Spanish capital, with the Russian player struggling with physical issues as she was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by her rival from the Philippines.

“I feel really great, I love Madrid, it’s an amazing tournament,” said Eala after the match.

“I think at this level, every match is a battle, all of us players, we fight until the end. She’s been on the Tour many years, so I’m really happy with this win.

“I think she is a great player, so I’m really happy to be in the next round.”

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Eala suffered a big slide in her ranking last month, as the points she gained from her run to the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami in 2025 dropped off her record.

That saw her ranking dip from inside the top 30 and down into the mid-40, which would not be enough to secure her a seeded position for next month’s French Open.

This win against Pavlyuchenkova fired Eala up to No 41 in the live WTA Rankings and if she can win her next match against Elise Mertens, she will start to get close a return to the top 32 of the rankings, which would give her a seeding for Roland Garros.

At the age of just 20, these are early days in the career of Eala, with her recent experience of practicing with former world No 1 and four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek a useful development in her clay court story, according to former world No 4, Greg Rusedski.

“No question [that practising with Swiatek will help Eala],” said 1997 US Open finalist Rusedski on his podcast.

“They had this lovely picture where they showed them at the [Rafa Nadal Academy] graduation ceremony for Eala. And Swiatek was the one giving the speech for the day.

“For me, it’s great to step up the level. You want to see if you can do it with the very best at the highest level. And she’s beaten Swiatek already. She’s beaten a lot of great players. Why not?

“For me, I’m always optimistic about her. I always think she’s challenging herself. She has a great team of people around her. She’s fully committed and she’s got great support.

“And everything’s kind of new at the moment. We’ve talked about, yes, the serve needs to be better. Yes, when she comes up against a big hitter, sometimes she struggles and gets hit off the court. But you gotta consistently put yourself out there.

“She’s gonna get stronger physically, she’s gonna get more tactically astute, she’s gonna start hitting the ball harder. And she’s got a great training facility. So there’s no reason why she can’t add those areas.

“And the team around her is very good. When you have Rafa as your adviser, it doesn’t get any better (smiles).”

Rusedski recently expressed his hope that Eala could break into the top 20 for the first time during the clay season.

“I’d love to see her in the top 20; she is great for the WTA,” the former British No 1 said on his podcast. “We need more stars, we need more names, and we need new people. And she opens up a marketplace, and people just love her.

“Automatically, her matches sell out, and for me, she is a huge, huge positive. I’d love to see her, on this surface, crack the top 20 in the world.”