Alex Eala has shared her excitement about playing against Karolina Muchova in the Miami Open round of 16.
Eala has yet to play against Muchova in her exciting WTA career, which she truly kicked off at last year’s event in Miami.
The Filipina superstar reached the semifinals of the WTA 1000 tournament, knocking out Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko along the way.
Eala, who was eventually beaten by Jessica Pegula, now turns her focus to Muchova after her win over Magda Linette at the Miami Open.
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Alex Eala ‘super excited’ to play Karolina Muchova at the Miami Open
When asked for her thoughts heading into the match, Eala told Tennis Channel: “Yeah she’s been doing super well and I believe I watched one of her finals a couple years ago and I was like, ‘Ohh, this girl is good’.
“So I’m excited to see how I’m able to compete with her. I’m sure I’ll be put in a lot of tough positions, but I’m super excited, yeah.”
Eala beat Linette 6-3, 7-6(7-2) to reach the Miami Open round of 16, having won her opening match against Laura Siegemund.
Her run arrives after her round of 16 exit at Indian Wells, where she was knocked out by Muchova’s fellow Czech Linda Noskova.
Following that defeat, Eala now has a nightmare 0-12 record against Czech players, which is a worrying trend she will be desperate to end against Muchova.
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Alex Eala reveals her pre-match routine
It’s been a superb season so far for Eala, who is currently in her career-high rank of 29, although she is still chasing a first WTA title.
The 20-year-old has now shared insight into her fantastic success at such a young age, which involves over 200 career wins and one of the biggest fanbases in world tennis.
Revealing how she gets into the right mindset for matches, Eala said: “Well first of all, I have a talk with my coaches, right? I write in my notebook.
“I think, you know, the routines that I have every day, having that long warm up before hitting and then eating and then shower, everything, it helps me, it automatically kind of subconsciously puts me in that state of mind and it tells my body, you know, hey, you have a match.
“So I think by the time that I’m able to step on the court, I’ve done everything I could have done to be prepared.”
Eala could not, of course, reveal every secret, but her huge following will really appreciate such honesty and such insight into her schedule.
She has been a revelation for Filipino tennis and Filipino sports in general, undoubtedly representing the nation’s biggest superstar at this moment in time.
But the 31st seed now faces a very tricky test in Miami against 13th seed Muchova, who is 14th in the WTA rankings and boasts two career titles, including Doha this season.
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