The 19-year-old Filipina tennis sensation is bracketed in the lower part of the 128-player field where she is scheduled to battle fellow unseeded Viktoriya Tomova in the opening round on Tuesday, April 22.
A victory for Eala against her world No. 64 Bulgarian rival would earn her a chance to clash again with second seed and defending champion Swiatek — who earned an opening-round bye — for the first time in less than a month.
It can be recalled that Eala made heads turn at the Miami Open — a similar Women’s Tennis Association (WTA1000) event rated just one rung below the Grand Slams — where she stunned five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 7-5.
The Filipina also ousted two other Grand Slam winners in Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys in the earlier rounds before bowing to Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.
The pressure is on for Eala to weave the same magic she did in Miami, but she has yet to regain her bearings following a second round exit as a top-seeded player at the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal last week.
Swiatek, for her part, is coming off a quarters loss to Ostapenko at the Stuttgart Open also last week.
But Eala’s focus is on Tomova. Bulgaria’s top singles player, the 30-year-old boasts one WTA125 and 18 International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles and has constantly competed in the Grand Slams since 2018.
She also ranked as high as No. 46 in July last year and has also seen action in Miami, where she lost in the second round to world No. 1 and eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka. (K. Satumbaga-Villar, mb.com)
