'I didn't believe that I would be able to pull that win off because she played insane,' Russian Diana Shnaider says of Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala suffered a heartbreaking loss against Russian player Diana Shnaider, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Friday, October 30.

Eala had taken the first set convincingly, 6-2, but the second set saw the two players enter a thrilling tiebreaker, with Shnaider eventually forcing a deciding third set, 7-6(5), against the Filipina tennis star.

While the 21-year-old Eala had appeared to be catching up late in the third, Shnaider proved to be difficult to contain.

“Honestly, I feel like this match deserved to be a final. It was an insane level of tennis from both of us. I didn’t believe that I would be able to pull that win off because [Eala] played insane,” Shnaider said of her last-eight match against Eala, which lasted two hours and 52 minutes.

“But I was just trying to keep reminding myself to keep fighting for every point.”

Shnaider had previously beaten Eala in the second round of the Ningbo Open in China, 7-5, 6-4, on October 22.

The Russian player will now face Slovakia’s Mia Pohánková in the semifinals, while the Filipina tennis ace sets her sights on the Hong Kong Tennis Open. – Rappler.com