FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala and her close pal Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey face doubles specialists Chan Hao-ching and Fanny Stollar in the first round of the Madrid Open in Spain on Thursday.
At press time, no specific time had been set for the round of 32 doubles match, but it’s likely evening or late night in Manila.
Eala and Sonmez were playing their singles opening matches on Wednesday, with the former facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and the latter taking on Carlota Martinez Cirez.
The 20-year-old Eala and the 23-year-old Sönmez received wildcard entries in this WTA 1000 doubles tournament.
The Philippine bet is ranked No. 101 while the Turkey pride is 406 in doubles, where their career-high ranks are No. 99 and 382, respectively.
The Filipino-Turkish duo ranks well below the Taiwanese-Hungarian tandem of Chan and Stollar, who are ranked No. 27 and No. 38, respectively.
The 32-year-old Chan reached as high as No. 5 in 2016 while the 27-year-old Stollar reached No. 25 last year.
Chan boasts 21 doubles titles while Stollar has five; Eala and Sönmez have none.
Eala and Sönmez’s advantage is that they’re teaming up for the fourth time in the doubles competition, giving them familiarity with each other, especially being close friends on the Tour.
Eala and Sönmez first joined forces at the W60 Nantes in France, posting a quarterfinal finish in October 2023.
The duo teamed up right away the following month at the W40 Petange, reaching the semifinals.
Eala and Sönmez last teamed up at the W75 Trnava in February 2024, making the semifinals of the tournament.
Chan and Stollar are teaming up for the first time in comparison.
Chan last saw action at the Charleston Open on April 2 when she and compatriot Wu Fang-Hsien fell to Yulia Putintseva and Elisabetta Cocciareto in the round of 32, 3-6, 2-6.
Stollar last competed at the Stuttgart Open on April 15 when she and Leylah Fernandez fell to Nicole Melinchar-Martinez and Liudmila Samsonva, 4-6, 6-3, 6-10.
Meanwhile, Eala last competed in the doubles side at Indian Wells last March, joining forces with Iva Jovic for a round of 32 exit. NIEL VICTOR MASOY