Alex Eala quickly got to work for her 2022 Miami Open main draw debut by having a practice session with Ajla Tomljanovic.
Eala, 16, posted a photo of her and Tomljanovic on social media, thanking the Croatian-Australian.
“Thank you Ajla Tomljanovic for a great practice (today),” Eala wrote.
Tomljanovic, currently ranked No. 39 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), is a Grand Slam regular and a quarterfinalist at the 2021 Wimbledon.
Eala is scheduled to face American Madison Brengle in the main draw opening round on late Wednesday with hopes of making an impact in this WTA1000 event.
Brengle would be the highest-ranked WTA player that Eala would be facing in her pro career at No. 59, boasting of upset victories against Top 10 players such as Serena Williams, Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova.
Eala and Brengle are bracketed at the lower part of the 128-player field.
If successful against Brengle, Eala will have a chance to meet 29th seed Ludmilla Samsonova after the Russian earned an opening-round bye.
Other seeded players in the lower brackets were second seed Iga Swiatek, fourth seed Maria Sakkari, No. 7 Garbiñe Muguruza, No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko, and 14th seed Coco Gauff.