TOP seed Alex Eala settled for the bronze medal in the 20th Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after losing to China’s Xiyu Wang, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, in the women’s singles semifinal on Thursday at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre Court.
The Filipina world No. 18 failed to protect her strong start, as the 85th-ranked Chinese went on a late surge in the first set which she eventually lost.
That got Wang going, though, and she raced to a 5-1 edge in the second set and never looked back.
In the third, Eala opened by dictating the pace, but Wang broke away from a 1-1 tie by dominating the next five games in the match that lasted two hours and 34 minutes.
The loss ends Eala’s Asiad campaign, as she replicated her bronze finish from the 2023 Hangzhou Games.
In the women’s doubles event, Eala and partner Shaira Rivera fell in the second round, also cutting their campaign short.
Wang now sets up a gold medal match against compatriot Shuai Zhang, the world No. 57.
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