Alex Eala beats WTA no. 41 Lesia Tsurenko in Mutua Madrid Open

Alex Eala, ranked no. 170 by WTA, has pulled off an upset against no. 41 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Tuesday.

The Filipina tennis ace bucked off a slow start, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the next round and face WTA no. 30 Sorana Cirstea in the Round of 64.

In a social media post, Eala relished her first WTA 1000 win.

"Pumped to go back for round 2 (2 emoji)," she wrote.

Eala last made a quarterfinals finish in the W50 Trnava tournament last February where she fell to Anastasiia Gureva in the quarters.

However, she has been bagging wins in doubles events, with Estelle Cascino at the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg last March and with Darja Semenistaja in the W50 Pune last January.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News