{"id":67471,"date":"2026-08-01T22:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T22:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/67471\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T22:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T22:25:35","slug":"alex-eala-stuns-naomi-osaka-reaches-dc-open-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/67471\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Eala stuns Naomi Osaka, reaches DC Open finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>  Published  August 2, 2026 5:16am  <br \/> Updated  August 2, 2026 5:45am  <\/p>\n<p>     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=gmanetwork.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"gma-preferred-source-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">  Add GMA on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n<p> Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmanetwork.com\/news\/tracking\/alexeala\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alexandra &#8220;Alex&#8221; Eala<\/a> stunned four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, 6-4, 6-2, in the semifinals of the DC Open to advance to her first WTA 500 final.<\/p>\n<p>The victory sends Eala to her second WTA Tour final above the WTA 125 level, following her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmanetwork.com\/news\/sports\/othersports\/950884\/alex-eala-vs-maya-joint-eastbourne-open-finals-june-28-2025\/story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">runner-up finish at the Eastbourne Open last year<\/a>. It also marks her first tour-level final on a hard court.<\/p>\n<p>Osaka took the opening game of the match, but Eala responded by winning the next two to seize a 2-1 lead. Osaka battled back to move ahead, 3-2, before Eala leveled the set at 3-3. After Osaka edged back in front, Eala reeled off the final three games to secure the opening set, 6-4.<\/p>\n<p>Eala carried that momentum into the second set, racing to a 2-0 advantage before Osaka got on the board. The Filipina maintained control and extended her lead to 4-2 after fending off Osaka&#8217;s attempts to close the gap. Osaka&#8217;s unforced errors proved costly as Eala moved within a game of victory at 5-2 before sealing the match with her aggressive play.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One more match, I guess, but I&#8217;m super, super happy,&#8221; Eala said after her victory.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think I played really well and, of course, such a meaningful match against a great player. So really happy to share the court with Naomi.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Eala said she gave her all against a competitor like Osaka.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I guess, just the way I approach today&#8217;s match could never count her out. You know, and like I said, I was so I had to be so locked in and I made it a point to be so locked in, which is why until now I&#8217;m still in that mode of kind of competition,&#8221; a shocked Eala said.<\/p>\n<p>Eala will face Jessica Pegula in the final, setting up a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmanetwork.com\/news\/sports\/othersports\/940861\/eala-vs-pegula-miami-open-semis-march-28-2025\/story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">rematch of their Miami Open semifinal last year, where the American ended the Filipina&#8217;s breakthrough run.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think I just have to trust myself. I&#8217;m in the final for a reason. She is such an amazing player also for a reason, so I think it&#8217;s going to be a really good match,&#8221; she said about Pegula.<\/p>\n<p>HIGHLIGHTS | Alex Eala vs Naomi Osaka (DC Open semfiinals)<\/p>\n<p>\u2014JKC, GMA News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published August 2, 2026 5:16am Updated August 2, 2026 5:45am Add GMA on Google Make this your preferred&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[43699,41858,8,22927,4469,85],"class_list":["post-67471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-osaka","tag-alex-eala","tag-dc-open","tag-japan","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-osaka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}