Women’s tennis top seed Alexandra Eala ousted in Asian Games semi-finals

Nagoya, Japan – Philippine tennis star Alexandra Eala saw her bid for Asian Games gold end in the semi-finals on Oct 1, after a stunning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to China’s world No. 85 Wang Xiyu.

Top seed and world No. 18 Eala, who skipped the prestigious China Open and risked penalties to play in Nagoya, was looking to become the first woman from the Philippines to win the title.

The 21-year-old will instead go home with only a bronze medal.

Eala had played two matches the previous evening but showed no sign of fatigue as she raced into a 5-0 first-set lead.

Wang, 25, then began showing signs of life and went on to level the match in the second set before breaking Eala’s serve early in the third.

The Filipina could find no way back as Wang closed out the match to set up an all-Chinese final against world No. 57 Zhang Shuai.

Eala was eliminated from the women’s doubles competition after she and partner Shaira Rivera lost in the second round on Sept 30.

Eala in August became the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA Tour title.

She has become wildly popular in the Philippines, her every match followed by large numbers of cheering fans.

Last week, she was the third seed in the Singapore Tennis Open and received a bye in her opening match before being upset by the unheralded Tatiana Prozorova in the last 16. AFP