Magda Linette will face Alexandra Eala in the early hours of Sunday, March 22, in the Round of 32 of the Miami Open. In a file photo from January 2023 (right), she reacts after losing a point to Caroline Garcia of France in the Australian Open fourth round. | AFP file photo

Both Magda Linette and Alex Eala are in it for the long haul when they face each other in the Miami Open’s Round of 32.

To set up their match in the early hours of Sunday, March 22, both Linette and Eala had to overcome grueling three-setters.

Their match was scheduled for 3:50 AM on Sunday, March 22 (Philippine time). Going into the match, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) live rankings placed them at No. 48 (Eala) and No. 56 (Linette).

At 3 hours and 20 minutes, Eala’s match against Laura Siegemund of Germany on Friday, March 20 is the longest tour-level match of her career so far.

“She has improved so much,” Linette said of the fast-rising Filipina star in a post-match interview with the Tennis Channel.

Magda Linette ready for ‘a tough match’ against Alex Eala

“I played her at the beginning of the year so I know what I’m up against and I will just try to do my best again. I know it’s going to be a tough match. I have so much respect for her game, but I’m ready, playing well, and healthy. Anything can happen.”

Linette, for her part, lost the first set of her match to Iga Swiatek before steadying her nerves, forcing a tiebreak in the second set, and eventually winning, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.

Before that, Swiatek won 73 of her previous opening-round matches. She was the Miami Open champion in 2022.

9 of WTA’s Top 10 still in competition in Miami Open

To win against Swiatek, Linette said she needed “to stay aggressive and try to somehow lead the game because Iga is so dangerous when she is leading the game.”

“In the first set, she was doing it. She was more aggressive, and I had no time to really get myself together. I was just trying to take more initiative and be a bit more aggressive.”

Whoever wins between Eala and Linette, a tough tournament awaits, with so many elite-level competitors still in play.

Swiatek is the only athlete from the top 10 who has exited Miami. All the others are still competing, including defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, and Amanda Anisimova.

9 of 12 wins for Magda Linette this year all 3-setters

Linette has both stamina and mental toughness. She has won 12 tour-level matches this year, with 9 of them going to a third set. That includes her wins over Swiatek earlier this week and against tennis legend Venus Williams in January.

She outlasted Williams, now 45, in Auckland, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

She credited her ability to stay calm and the advice of former world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, who recently joined her coaching team.

“Usually for me, physically it’s a bit easier (to endure a three-setter). Mentally, it’s such a fine line when you start dropping and those players really use it so quickly. So, the key was just to stay calm, keep hitting, and try to keep creating those advantages.”

A 10-year head start over Alex EalaAlex Eala (left) will face Magda Linette in Round 3 of the Miami Open. Both battled through three-setters to reach the Round of 32. | Photos from WTA’s FB page

Before dispatching Swiatek, Linette also played another three-setter, coming back from a set down to beat Varvara Gracheva, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. Gracheva is a Russian-born player who now represents France and is ranked No. 60 in the world.

At 34, Linette acknowledged how important it was for her to try new techniques from Radwanska, “because I don’t really have the physicality anymore to run around on my forehand.”

Linette first played in the main draw of a WTA event in 2013, a full 10 years before Eala entered the picture.

This is Linette’s ninth appearance in the main draw of the Miami Open, which takes place from March 17-29. It is only Eala’s fourth and was Swiatek’s fifth.

How they did in last year’s Miami Open

That they have both defeated Swiatek in Miami is one of the few things Eala and Linette have in common.

Eala entered the Miami Open in 2025 as a wild card who was ranked No. 140.

After defeating No. 5 Madison Keys in the third round and Swiatek in the quarterfinals, she lost in the semifinals to Jessica Pegula.

But then Eala went on to complete a stellar year that included a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games and breaking into the Top 50 before the year ended.

Linette, for her part, made it to the quarterfinals in Miami in 2025.

She defeated No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, eventually bowing out in the quarterfinals after losing to No. 7 Jasmine Paolini.

A star athlete’s ’emotional management’

Her highest WTA ranking so far is No. 19, which she accomplished in March 2023. She has won three singles titles in her career so far: Ningbo, China in 2014; Hua Hin in Thailand in 2020; and Prague in 2024.

When she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Australian Open in 2023, Linette credited that feat to “emotional management”.

“I’ve never really dealt with mistakes very well. They carried over later on for the next point, then another one. It was taking me just too long to get over them,” she said.

In a post on her Facebook page in January 2026, about 20 days after her loss to Eala in Auckland, she wrote: “I’m writing this post for myself, but also for anyone who sometimes feels like they haven’t done enough.”

‘Every effort builds something’

“Life has a way of letting one minus overshadow all the pluses. We focus on what’s missing instead of seeing how far we’ve already come. We dream, we work, we push forward, and when we finally reach a place we once dreamed of, the goal somehow moves again.”

“And instead of satisfaction, there’s that familiar feeling of not quite enough. But every step matters. Every effort builds something.”

“If today you feel like you’ve lost something or that it’s still not enough, give yourself a moment. Look at how far you’ve come. Then keep going, a little calmer, with more kindness toward yourself. I know I will.”