Jingshan: Filipino tennis player Alex Eala secured her spot in the semifinals of the Jingshan Open by defeating Chinese contender Jia-Jing Lu, 6-4, 6-1, at the Jingshan Tennis Center in China.

According to Philippines News Agency, this victory sets up a challenging semifinal match for Eala, ranked No. 58 in the world, against third seed Lulu Sun from New Zealand. Sun, currently ranked No. 146 globally, progressed to the semifinals after overcoming Russian player Elena Pridankina with a score of 6-2, 6-4 in their quarterfinal match.

In another quarterfinal clash, Chinese player Ye-Xin Ma triumphed over Japan's Rina Saigo with a 7-5, 6-2 win. Ma is scheduled to compete against the victor of the match between second seed Talia Gibson of Australia and En-Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei.

Eala, who is 20 years old, made her WTA Tour debut in 2021 and captured her first title at the Guadalajara 125 Open in Mexico last month, defeating world No. 134 Panna Udvardy from Hungary in a comeback victory, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

To reach the final in Guadalajara, Eala defeated several players, including American Kayla Day, Italian Nicole Fossa Huergo, American Varvara Lepchenko, and Dutch Arianne Hartono in a series of competitive matches.

Earlier this year, at the 2025 Miami Open in March, Eala demonstrated her prowess by defeating Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek, reaching the semifinals before losing to American Jessica Pegula.

Eala also made headlines by reaching her first WTA final at the Lexus Eastbourne Open in June, where she was narrowly defeated by Australian Maya Joint.

Last month, Eala made history at the US Open by becoming the first Filipino to win a main draw match at a Grand Slam event, defeating world No. 14 Carla Tauson in the first round. However, she was unable to progress further after losing to Spain's Cristina Bucsa in the second round.

Eala, a graduate of the Rafael Nadal Academy, previously won the US Open junior girls' singles title in 2022.