Metro Manila, Philippines – Filipino tennis player Alex Eala bowed to Chinese opponent Wang Xinyu in three sets, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, at the 2026 ASB Classic semifinals in New Zealand on Saturday, Jan. 10.
Eala, seeded no. 4 in the draw, powered through a sluggish start in the first set but could not convert the next to her favor.
At the decider, Wang secured four straight games, forcing the Filipino ace to make a chase again before losing steam and ending her campaign in Auckland.
To reach the semifinals, Eala defeated two Croatians, Donna Vekic and Petra Marcinko, and claimed her first-ever victory against Poland’s Magda Linette in the quarterfinals.
Post-game, Wang, the seventh seed in the competition, said she had a “crazy battle from the start to the end,” describing the 20-year-old Filipina as “such a fighter.”
The Olympic medalist will face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the finals of the WTA 2025 tournament.
World No. 53 Eala capped 2025 with her first WTA title at the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico and a historic gold medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
