Alexandra Eala battled ferociously to come through another entertaining tussle in Hong Kong on Friday. What else is new?
The 21-year-old saved 11 of 16 break points and played her best in the big moments to take out Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic, 7-6(7), 7-5, saving a set point in the opener along the way as she reached the semifinals in Hong Kong.
Eala has yet to drop a set through three rounds in her second career appearance in Hong Kong, and she reaches her sixth career WTA semifinal, and fourth of 2026.
“It was a roller coaster, for sure, and an incredible battle,” Eala said. “So I don’t know what inspired me or kept me digging deeper, but Antonia played a really amazing match, and I’m blessed to be able to play another round here.”
Thanks to her win, she leapfrogs Naomi Osaka and rises to a career-high No. 16 in the live rankings.
Eala raced out to a 5-0 lead in the opening-set tiebreak after a run of six consecutive service breaks took the pair to six-all. Ruzic hit back, saved a pair of set points and had a set point of her own at 7-6. Eala recovered and converted her third set point.
Ruzic rallied from a break down to level at four-all in the second set, but Eala broke critically at 5-5, then served out the match, converting her third match point.
“I think more than staying focused, it was just choosing to push through and give everything that I have,” she said.
The Filipina sensation will face No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari in the semifinals. The Greek took out Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 6-3, on Friday.
Alexandra Shubladze will face American Claire Liu in the top-half semifinal.
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