Alex Eala defeated world No. 8 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the 2026 Berlin Open.
The 21-year-old Filipino player, ranked world No. 35, secured the victory in one hour and 23 minutes at Steffi Graf Stadion. She had entered the WTA 500 grass-court event as a wildcard and followed her win over world No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals with this result.
Eala took an early 4-1 lead in the first set and closed it out in 32 minutes. In the second set, she broke serve three times to lead 5-2 before holding on to win.
She improved her record against top-10 players to 6-4. Eala will next face world No. 13 Linda Noskova in the semifinals on Saturday.