Iga Swiatek avoided another shock defeat against Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala by fighting back to win their Madrid Open second-round match. World number two Swiatek, who was stunned by Eala in Miami last month, won 4-6 6-4 6-2 on the Spanish clay. Swiatek lost in the Stuttgart quarter-finals last week and, having received a bye...
Coming from a country with little tennis pedigree, Eala is already accustomed to being a trailblazer for the Philippines – even though she is still a teenager. In 2021, she became the first Filipino to win a WTA Tour match and first to win a junior Grand Slam crown with the 2022 US Open title....