Alex Eala’s incredible march through the D.C. Open field continued Saturday, ousting three-seed and former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to set up a fantastic final against top seed Jessica Pegula.
In her first Washington appearance, the 21-year-old native of the Philippines reaches her second career WTA Final and the biggest championship stage so far of her skyrocketing career. Pegula, meanwhile, beat No. 4 Diana Shnaider in straight sets and is back in the D.C. final for the first time since she won it in 2019 for the first of her now 11 career titles.
“It gave me so much confidence that I could win titles at this level and on tour,” Pegula said of her maiden win. “To be back, I know now probably a tougher tournament now than it was back then, but just to be able to come back from 2019, now we’re in 2026, and I’m still able to put myself in a position to win at this tournament again, not only this tournament again, but also a bigger tournament with a deeper draw, I would say, and better players. It’s pretty cool I think when I can look at it from that perspective.”
The American enters the final now 22-4 on hard courts this season, while Eala will be looking for her seventh win over a top 10 player in 2026 if she beats the world No. 3.
Another capacity crowd in Rock Creek Park witnessed both matches, with many carrying or waving the Philippines Three Stars and a Sun flag in their hands or on their chests in support of Eala.
Eala and Osaka traded back-to-back brakes of serve early in the first set, with Osaka getting the second to level it at 2-all. Later, tied at 4, Osaka lost the first three points on her serve. She would manage to claw all of them back to force deuce, but two points later, she sent a forehand into the net, handing Eala the break. The Filipino would hold at love to take the first set.
The same sequence played out to open the second set: Osaka being broken in the first game, and Eala holding at love to win the second.
Down 1-3, Osaka saved two break points, then needed three deuces to hold serve, capping the game with an ace. Then, up 4-2, Eala again generated three break point chances against Osaka, needing just two of them to take a commanding 5-2 lead before serving out the match.
En route to the final, Eala has defeated the former world No. 4 and reigning Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng, defending Washington champion and No. 7 seed Leylah Fernandez, world No. 10 and second seed Elina Svitolina, and now a four-time Grand Slam champion and once the best player in the world in Osaka.
To win her first career WTA title, she’ll have to slay another giant in No. 1 seed Pegula, who, after dropping the first set of her initial match this week against Magdalena Frech, has won her last six in a row. A first-set comeback after being down 2-5 to No. 4 Diana Shnaider was required to keep the streak going, with Pegula’s serving eventually shining through in a 7-5, 6-4 win.
“I just feel like I had to adjust a bit to the conditions and her ball. Luckily, I was able to do that and come back in the first set. But, I mean, it was only one break, so I was confident that I just had to keep holding on to my serve,” Pegula said. “I think once I finally held, I just finally got some momentum going, and was able to hang on to that pretty much the rest of the match.”
Pegula is in her fourth final of the season, having already won in Charleston and Dubai. Much as Pegula earned her first championship trophy in the District, Eala will try to do the same if she can beat her in Sunday’s final.
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