Why Eala gets direct entry to 500-tier Linz but not in same level Stuttgart

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala will start her clay season with a pair of WTA 500 tournaments: the Linz Open and the Stuttgart Open.

The Linz Open in Austria will run from April 6 to 12 while the Stuttgart Open in Germany will take place swing from April 13 to 19.

World No. 45 Eala gained a direct entry at Linz but has to go through the qualifiers in Stuttgart.

How does that happen when Eala even gets a direct entry at the 1000 Madrid Open slated from April 21 to May 3.

The reason is Stuttgart's field is more loaded and dense compared to Linz despite both tournaments sporting the same 28-player draw.

As always, Stuttgart attracted a higher concentration of top 20 players which is basically the same number of direct entries through rankings.

Four main draw spots will be given to wildcards, and the other four will go to qualifiers.

That's why even Eala's career-best ranking of No. 29 two weeks ago was not enough to put her in the main draw; she needs to earn her spot through the qualifiers.

Seven of the current top 10 players are actually competing in Stuttgart led by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

The other six are No. 2 Elena Rybakina, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 4 Iga Swiatek, No. 7 Elina Svitolina, No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, and No. 10 Mirra Andreeva.

World No. 11 Karolina Muchova, No. 13 Ekaterina Alexandrova, No. 14 Linda Noskova, No. 17 Clara Tauson, No. 19 Diana Shnaider, No. 20 Elise Mertens, No. 21 Liudmila Samsonova, as well as No. 23 and defending champ Jelena Ostapenko are in the deep field, too.

In contrast, no top 10 players are competing in Linz, with No. 13 Alexandrova being the top seed.

Eala is even seeded No. 7, following Tauson, Samsonova, Ostapenko, Emma Navarro, and Emma Raducanu.

It's a relatively weaker field compared to Stuttgart but one that will still be challenging for Eala.

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