Alex Eala has guaranteed herself at least a bronze medal in the 20th Asian Games tennis women's singles, as she advanced to the last four with a 7-5, 6-0 triumph over Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center.
In their first official match against one another, the two players started off by breaking each other's serve in the first two games, until both also held serve in the third and fourth game to have it tied at 2-2.
And while the Filipina was bound to get momentum after her second break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead, Garland bounced back with her own break in the sixth game and a seventh game hold to take over the driver seat at 4-3.
The trend continued up to the 10th game to make it a tight first set at 5-5, before Eala went on with a three-game run to finish it off - powered by a crucial break in the 11th game to claim a one-set advantage at 7-5.
Eala's return game was once again on point, with a 29-17 receiving points lead in the first set against Garland. The Taiwanese-British actually controlled the first serve numbers at 21-12 that made it close throughout the 12 games.
Heading into the second set, the momentum continued to be on the side of the Filipina star through a blistering 4-0 start, including a second and fourth game break.
Rampage went on with Eala getting another break in the fifth game and capped off by a sixth game hold to complete a second consecutive bagel in the second set, which she also achieved against Patcharin Cheapchandej in the round of 16.
Up next for the 21-year-old in the semifinals is fourth seed Wang Xiyu of China, who dispatched Moyuka Uchijima in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
However, the day is not yet over for Eala with her women's doubles second round match alongside Shaira Rivera slated later this afternoon against China's Jiang Xiyu and Yang Zhaoxuan.