Eala channelling Nadal, Teichmann rebuilding

Philippine trailblazer Alexandra Eala stormed into round two 6-1, 6-1 past China's Ma Ye-Xin.

The 18-year-old, who won the girls' doubles title in 2021 alongside Oksana Selekhmeteva, recently chalked up a maiden WTA 1000 victory in Madrid as a sign of progress.

"It feels amazing to get my first professional Grand Slam win," said the world No.160. "It means a lot. My transition has been very smooth. I haven't sky-rocketed up, saying that, I feel like there has been constant progression too. Every match has been a lesson."

There's no doubt who is the main inspiration for this teenage talent, as Eala aims to become the first Philippine woman to play a singles main draw match at a Grand Slam.

"I train at the Rafa Nadal Academy (Mallorca), so it's a given that this place brings up a lot of memories for people that train there," explained Eala, referring to 14-time Roland-Garros champion Rafael Nadal.

"Of course, we are all rooting for Rafa, he's been such a great role model of mine and I'm happy I can compete on the same courts and execute some of the things I learn there.

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"It's so nice to see him there just pop in at the gym, to see him train, to see how he goes about his practice, to see him interact with the players. Witnessing him up close is surreal, I look back to five, six years ago and think: 'Who would have thought I'd have this chance?' I see him a lot at the academy and I try not to take it for granted at all. It's a huge privilege."

Eala will be back to face No.30 seed and fellow 18-year-old Taylah Preston.

Former world No.21 Jil Teichmann is rebuilding "brick by brick" following a severe back injury this season.

The Swiss turned the tables 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to hurdle Croatian Tena Lukas on Monday. 

"It feels bloody good," said the 26-year-old. "It's been a big challenge with three months out, it was intense, because it was a bad one.

"It's my first time with a back injury and it affected everything, you can’t do anything on court or much in your daily life, I literally couldn't sit.

"I had to start slowly, playing matches at lower categories, going through all different situations. It sounds weird, I had to learn to win again. I'm happy with my progress."

Teichmann reached the fourth round in Paris two years ago, which is the world No.199's finest major showing to date.

"It's been tough since. Last year really wasn't good, I lost a lot of three-setters, didn't get the results often enough and the ranking has been going down," admitted the Swiss.

"That last injury didn't help at all, but it gave me time to get my head together. It was meant to be, I'm enjoying the process now of doing this whole journey again.

"I'm in a different phase of my career now, I'm not a rookie any more, 19, coming up. I've been up there, I know what it takes, so there aren’t any limits for me here."

No.2 seed Julia Riera transferred her recent silverware success to breeze past Serbia's Natalija Stevanovic 6-0, 6-2.

The 21-year-old has lifted two titles at ITF level in the past month - at Chiasso, Switzerland and Wiesbaden, Germany - as well as a semi-final journey at the WTA 125 event in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

As a reward the Argentine, who lists compatriot David Nalbandian and a certain Roger Federer as her idols, has cracked the top 100.

"It was a dream, I can't believe it yet. Ever since I started hitting with my family at a club a street from mine in Pergamino (Argentina), I've wanted this, it's crazy! I'm motivated for more to go up and up," said Riera.

"When I was chilling at home I'd always tune into Roland-Garros. I watched them all a lot, I remember seeing Federer win on TV in 2009."

No.12 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich kick-started the action on Court Suzanne-Lenglen with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over home hope Jenny Lim.

Jule Niemeier needed just 44 minutes to dispatch Laura Ioana Paar 6-0, 6-1, while Turkey's top talent Zeynep Sonmez went through 6-3, 6-2.

World No.190 Wei Sijia sent 26th seed Yuriko Lily Miyazaki out 6-1, 6-1 to move into the second round. Veronika Erjavec also stunned a seed, toppling No.14 Claire Liu 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

No.21 seed Jana Fett reeled in French wild card Selena Janicijevic 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 and No.16 seed Rebecca Sramkova relinquished just five games to blaze past Sarah Iliev.

It was a successful day for the Fruhvirtova household. Fourth seed Brenda Fruhvirtova dominated proceedings versus Viktoria Hruncakova 6-0, 6-3 and older sibling Linda Fruhvirtova found the answers to prevail past Iryna Shymanovich 6-4, 6-2.