Alexandra Eala stunned former world number one Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the women’s final of the WTA and ATP Washington Open, where she will face third-ranked Jessica 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 WTA final, having lost her first last year at Eastbourne.
“I’m super proud of my performance,” Eala said.
Alexandra Eala delivered an impressive victory over the four-time Grand Slam winner from Japan to reach her second WTA final, having lost her first last year at Eastbourne.
“Alex, I’m a big fan of hers. She’s the future of the tour and she’s already here. “I’m more well rounded. I’m physically a little bit better. I’ve improved on a couple of my strokes.
Pegula, who won her first WTA title in 2019 at Washington, fell behind 5-2 against Schnaider, but the 32-year-old American top seed battled back to reach her fourth final of the year.
“She definitely has an aura and she definitely has power,” Eala said of Osaka. “I hit a lot of unforced errors, so that was probably one of the main reasons (for losing),” Osaka said. “It’s going to be a battle,” Pegula said of the final. Serve has also improved quite a bit,” Eala said of her game then and now. “I dug very deep just to keep holding,” said Fritz, who seeks an 11th career ATP title and first since last year at Eastbourne.
