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| Alex Eala bids goodbye to Nagoya with another Asian Games bronze. POC Media Pool |
MANILA—Alex Eala's best chance to become the Asian Games' tennis queen ended in a heartbreaker as Wang Xiyu stood tall in the last two sets to take a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win in their semifinal battle on Thursday at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya.
Seemed to be in control after a dominant 5-0 start to Set 1, Eala found herself threatened after Wang got three games back to make the opening frame interesting before the Filipina finally closed it out.
Wang, though, dominated Set 2 by opening a 5-1 lead.
Eala got a break point to stay herself on track, but Wang eventually held her serve in Game 9 to force Set 3.
Eala got a winning start to the deciding period, but Wang won four straight matches to go up 4- 1.
Eala got a needed break point to keep herself in the match, but Wang countered by breaking her serve too in the next game before delivering a Game 8 sweep to seal the match.
Wang showed her prowess in scoring off second serves, winning 62 percent of the time against Eala's dismal 29 percent.
Wang also converted six break points, most in the last two sets, against Eala's four.
Wang's win sealed an all-Chinese battle against Zhang Shuai for the gold and an outright berth to the 2028 LA Olympics.
For Eala, she bowed out with another bronze in her hand, and she will now need to take the long road to join either Wang or Zhang in Hollywood; that is, the world number 18 needs to remain a highly ranked player in the WTA rankings for the next two years to qualify.
