TENNIS: Alex Eala falls to Wang in ASB Classic semifinals battle

China's Wang Xinyu had to dig very deep to defeat Alex Eala of the Philippines 5-7, 7-5, 6-4  in the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, January 10.

The unrelenting world number 57 Chinese trailed the number 53 Eala  before she equalized 5-5 in the first set. Eala eventually got the better of Wang breaking the tie and winning the set.

Wang again played catch up during the second set to Eala. But this time, The Chinese netter snatched the set with an identical 7-5 score.

The deciding set had Eala trailing by 1-5 with Wang quickly flexing her dominance. Despite falling far behind, Eala never gave up and won three successive games to almost equalize the score at 5-4. Wang held on tight to oust Eala and earn herself a ticket to the ASB Classics final.

Eala's run in the tournament ends without losing a single set until today.