It's not often a player produces two nearly identical sets of tennis, much less across two matches, but that was the case for Alexandra Eala on Friday night in Hong Kong.

After nearly squandering a 5-0 lead in a second-set tiebreak against Tereza Valentova in the second round, the No. 2 seed found herself in a familiar position against Antonia Ruzic in the quarterfinals. After letting two set points slip away and saving one against her, she held firm in the opening-set tiebreak and went on to earn a 7-6 (7), 7-5 victory in 2 hours, 30 minutes.

After a season-long race, the world's top players converge in the California desert with the WTA's biggest title still to be won.

The win sends Eala through to her fourth semifinal of 2026, where she will face No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari for the first time on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

"It was a rollercoaster for sure and an incredible battle," Eala said in her on-court interview. "I don't know what inspired me or kept me digging deeper, but Antonia played a really amazing match, and I'm blessed to be able to play another round here."

The match had a little bit of everything. The two players combined for 29 break points and 11 breaks of serve. There were plenty of winners (40 for Eala, 33 for Ruzic) and even more unforced errors (47 for Eala, 43 for Ruzic).

As if that wasn't enough chaos, a brief rain delay of just over 20 minutes halted play midway through the second set.

But as she did against Valentova, Eala embraced the chaos and elevated her game when it mattered most. After Ruzic fought back and earned a set point at 7-6 in the opening-set tiebreak, Eala responded with a backhand return winner to stay alive. She then struck an overhead winner to bring up a third set point before finishing the set with a forehand winner.

Following the rain delay, Eala immediately faced another break point. Ruzic converted it to level the second set at 4-4. But after Ruzic held for 5-4, Eala got back to work, sweeping the final three games to seal the victory.

She'll be looking for a slightly more straightforward result when she returns to the court in less than 24 hours to face Sakkari. A win would send her to her third career final, her second of 2026, and put a Top 15 debut within reach.