Eala faces Poland’s Frech in Round 1 of Italian Open

ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA begins her final buildup for the French Open later this month against Poland’s Magdalena Frech in Round 1 of the Internazionali BNL D’Italia (Italian Open) at the Foro Italico Sports Complex in Rome.

It’s the first meeting between the two with the winner earning a shot against world No. 33 Xinyu Wang of China after gaining a first-round bye as the No. 31 seed in the 1000-level tourney.

The 20-year-old Ms. Eala, who improved to No. 42 from No. 44 in this week’s Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, is not far ahead of the 28-year-old Ms. Frech at WTA No. 45.

Both also have one WTA title each to boast, making it an even field at a still-to-be-determined game time on Wednesday as they look to make it up for early exits in the Mutua Madrid Open Round of 64 last month.

Ms. Eala bowed to world No. 22 Elise Mertens of Belgium, 6-2, 6-1, while Ms. Frech folded to WTA No. 72 Solana Sierra of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4.

Also in Madrid, Ms. Eala and Turkish friend Zeynep Sonmez fell in the second round to the powerhouse duo of Katerina Siniakova of Czechia (world doubles No. 1) and Taylor Townsend of the United States (world No. 2), 6-1, 7-5.

Overall, Ms. Eala has struggled on the tougher clay courts so far this season after also exiting in the second round of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Austria and in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

She’s out to smash a deeper campaign this time around in Rome ahead of two more tournaments in Parma, Italy and Strasbourg, France before going up against the big guns in the Roland Garros on May 24 to June 7 in Paris.

Ms. Eala is listed in the qualifying round of the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg Open on May 17 to 23 and in the main draw of WTA 125 Parma Ladies Open in Rome’s neighboring city on May 12 to 17.

Meanwhile in the doubles, Ms. Eala also jumped from No. 99 to a career-best ranking of No. 88 with 888 points. — John Bryan Ulanday