Alex Eala defeats Svitolina, books DC Open semifinal match against Osaka

Alexandra “Alex” Eala defeated the higher-ranked Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 6-4, in the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington DC on Friday night, July 31 (Saturday morning in the Philippines).

She needed one hour and 54 minutes to beat the Ukrainian, the tournament’s second seed, and booked her third semifinal match so far this year.

Eala will face Naomi Osaka in the semifinals of this Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 500 event in Washington DC that will wrap up on Sunday, August 2.

READ ALSO: Alex Eala Tracker 2026: Matches, News, Rankings

The other semifinal match was set before the Eala-Svitolina match began. Tournament top seed Jessica Pegula will compete against Diana Shnaider for a place in the finals.

Alex Eala’s mentality

Eala is the only semifinalist who wasn’t among the top four women’s seeds in this tournament.

READ ALSO: Alex Eala beats defending champ Fernandez, reaches DC quarterfinals

“Elina was being aggressive, especially in the second set, so I’m very happy (with the result),” Eala said in the post-match interview on court.

“There are so many things I’ve learned about what it takes to stay at this level and handle these tough players. But I’m just at the beginning of this long process and I’m really excited for what’s ahead.”

Eala has already earned $47,750 or about ₱2.92 million by reaching the quarterfinals.

In their previous meeting, Eala also defeated Svitolina in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, in the Berlin Tennis Open quarterfinals in June. Like DC, Berlin was a WTA 500 event.

Alex Eala’s on track to reach the WTA Top 25

Svitolina, 31, is currently ranked WTA No. 10. She won titles in Rome (clay) and the ASB Classic in Auckland (hard court) this year.

Eala is WTA No. 28 but has a chance to rise to No. 25 when the official rankings are updated on Monday.

Both players started their match in DC aggressively, trading breaks of serve at the start. Eala broke Svitolina’s serve first but then struggled to hold serve.

At one point, she double faulted, allowing the Ukrainian to earn three break point opportunities. Svitolina converted the second one.

Eala again broke Svitolina’s service game to take a 2-1 lead.

Calm under pressure

But Svitolina again broke back, converting the second of two break point opportunities to level the set at 2-all.

The Filina also broke the Ukrainian’s third service game, but this time held serve when her turn came, taking a 4-2 lead.

It was the first time either player held serve in the match at that point, suggesting that both players struggled a bit more with their serves than with returns.

Svitolina held serve for the first time, too, then put pressure on Eala’s next service game, at one point leading 40-0.

Eala stayed calm under pressure and saved all three break point opportunities. She fired off a forehand winner to hold serve and consolidate her lead, 5-3.

Fewer errors from Eala’s side

Eala won the first set, 6-3, about 43 minutes into the match, after a shot from Svitolina went into the net.

The Ukrainian started the second set strong, breaking the Filipina’s first service game and holding serve to take a 2-0 lead in just 12 minutes.

Eala broke Svitolina’s third service game then stared down a break point opportunity to take the lead in the second set, 4-3.

Both players held serve, and Eala was up 5-4.

Serving to stay in the match, Svitolina saved two match points. But she double faulted (her third in the set) and handed Eala the win.

Eala previously sent off the tournament’s defending champion, Leylah Fernandez, and Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng to advance in Washington DC.

Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.