The Japan Times - Eala stuns Osaka to book Washington final against Pegula

The 21-year-old Philippines left-hander delivered an impressive victory over the four-time Grand Slam winner from Japan to reach her second career WTA final, having dropped the first last year at Eastbourne.

Giant killer Eala, ranked 28th, had previously ousted second seed Elina Svitolina for her sixth top-10 victory of the year after dethroning 2025 Washington champion Leylah Fernandez.

Osaka, ranked 13th, was thwarted in her bid for an eighth career WTA title and first since taking the 2021 Australian Open.

Pegula, seeking her 12th career WTA title and third of the year, eliminated Russia's Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

Pegula, who won her first WTA title in 2019 at Washington, fell behind 5-2 at the start, but the 32-year-old American top seed battled back to reach her fourth final of the year.

"I found a little rhythm on the return, served a little bit smarter and I was able to play some good tennis, kind of take control of the momentum," Pegula said.

Pegula beat Eala in a 2025 Miami semi-final in their only career meeting.

"It's going to be a battle," Pegula said. "Alex, I'm a big fan of her. She's the future of the tour and she's already here."

In the first set, Eala took a 2-1 lead by breaking when Osaka sent a backhand wide but Osaka broke back in the fourth game when Eala netted a forehand volley.

Osaka saved three break points in the ninth game but followed with two errant forehands to surrender a break and Eala held at love on a service winner to capture the set in 38 minutes.

Osaka double-faulted away a break to begin the second set and netted a backhand to surrender another break and hand Eala a 5-2 edge.

Eala, who reached the fourth round last month at Wimbledon, then held serve to end matters after 76 minutes.

Pegula, a semi-finalist at this year's Australian Open, has lifted trophies at Dubai and Charleston this season.

Pegula won the last five games of her opening set to seize command after 45 minutes.

In the second set, Pegula broke in the fifth and seventh games. Shnaider broke in the eighth but Pegula served for the match again in the 10th game and smashed a forehand winner to capture her WTA-best 38th match triumph of the year.

In the men's semi-finals, world number 10 Taylor Fritz will face 33rd-ranked Brandon Nakashima in an all-American matchup while Chile's Alejandro Tabilo meets 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar.

Fritz seeks his 11th career ATP title and first since last year at Eastbourne.

Jodar, assured of cracking the top 20 in world rankings next week, won his first ATP title in April at Morocco while Nakashima's only ATP title was at San Diego in 2022.

Tabilo, ranked 30th, seeks his fourth career ATP trophy after winning at Auckland and Mallorca in 2024 and last year at Chengdu.

Y.Kimura--JT