Unrelenting brilliance
Alex Eala cruised past another foe on Friday and seems to be peaking just at the right time when she guns for a slot in the title match of the WTA 250 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
The 20-year-old Filipino, who seems to have become the darling of the tennis world since a breakout performance in Miami last year, was simply too good for Poland’s Magda Linette, scoring a 6-3, 6-2 win to easily make the semifinals opposite China’s Wang Xinyu.
“It feels so good. Thank you, everybody, for being here,” Eala told the crowd after the one-hour and 37-minute match. “I did my best. I do what I can and if I see an opening, I think it’s important that I go for it.
“Today was difficult,” Eala said despite having lost just a combined seven games in her last two matches since rallying from a set down in a first-round win over 2024 Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“Obviously, Magda being such an experienced player and I have difficulties playing against her before, so I’m happy that I’ve seen my level increase and my level improve.”
Eala was referring to a 0-for-3 record against the Pole in career meetings and her breakthrough win over Linette gives her all the momentum she needs in a clash with Wang, the seventh-ranked player in the tournament.
Eala, who ended last year with the Philippines’ first women’s singles gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in 32 years, had 14 break-point chances in playing with so much dominance against Linette. She converted six while being broken just twice.
Thigh injury
Ranked 57th in the world, Wang has also not lost a set in her last two matches and she got out of her quarterfinal match rather easily compared to Eala after American Francesca Jones retired because of a right thigh injury while trailing, 6-4, 4-3, 30-0.
The Chinese was in the middle of a very competitive match against Jones when signs of trouble showed up for the American late in the first set when she asked for a trainer and did squats in between points.
“I hope she can recover fast for the Australian Open,” Wang said of Jones. “She’s playing great. I hope to see her again in two weeks.”
The 24-year-old Shenzhen native, though, has a very unappealing record in tour-level semifinals on hard courts, going 0-8 in her career thus far.
Playing on the other side of the draw is top seed Elina Svitolina, who needed to dig deep before fending off British No. 2 Sonay Kartal in a marathon 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) win that took no less than two hours and 36 minutes to decide.
It was a very draining match, to say the least, with the world No. 13 Svitolina acknowledging it.
“I think it was 50/50, mental and physical, because I had to stay really focused on myself, on the fighting spirit, to stay in the match,” she said after advancing opposite third-ranked Iva Jovic, a 6-2 7-6(6) winner over Belgian Sofia Costoulas.
