Eala stuns Osaka in Washington to reach the biggest final of her career

[p]The 21-year-old Filipino left-hander delivered an impressive victory over the four-time Grand Slam winner from Japan to reach her second career WTA final, having dropped the first last year at Eastbourne.[/p][p]Giant killer [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/eala-alexandra/ppu9X7PH/"]Eala[/a], ranked 28th, had previously ousted second seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/monfils-elina/jyngIesG/"]Elina Svitolina[/a] for her sixth top-10 victory of the year after dethroning 2025 Washington champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandez-leylah-annie/8EI3pJOd/"]Leylah Fernandez[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osaka-naomi/MDM4BKiA/"]Osaka[/a], ranked 13th, was thwarted in her bid for an eighth career WTA title and first since taking the 2021 Australian Open.[/p][embed guid="9a5ec9b6-c33a-4f59-bb48-0a915939e085" url="https://x.com/WTA/status/2083664111544488249" social-type="twitter" /][p]In the first set, Eala took a 2-1 lead by breaking when Osaka sent a backhand wide, but Osaka broke back in the fourth game when Eala netted a forehand volley.[/p][p]Osaka saved three break points in the ninth game but followed with two errant forehands to surrender a break, and Eala held at love on a service winner to capture the set in 38 minutes.[/p][p]Osaka double-faulted away a break to begin the second set and netted a backhand to surrender another break and hand Eala a 5-2 edge.[/p][p]Eala, who reached the fourth round last month at Wimbledon, then held serve to end matters after 76 minutes.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Pegula[/a], seeking her 12th career WTA title and third of the year, eliminated Russia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/shnaider-diana/028BdVOj/"]Diana Shnaider[/a] 7-5, 6-4 in the other semi-final.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/eala-a-ppu9X7PH/osaka-n-MDM4BKiA/?mid=QHs72IY8"]Click here for more on the match[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Match stats" id="4dfc1310-e327-43a0-b72f-9e9c5ba3c24e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="6c4be320-63be-40a5-9c2e-9f7bbff8e9a1" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /]