A rival from last year will test Alex Eala’s mettle as she enters the semifinal of the Jingshan Tennis Open on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Eala will face No. 146 Lulu Sun of New Zealand with another win sending her on the verge of her third Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) final.

Eala, currently the top seed of this WTA 125 tournament, recently took down home bet Jia Jing Lu, 6-4, 6-1, in the quarterfinal last Friday to take a step closer to the title.

The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate only needed one hour and 17 minutes to reach her second semifinal in three tournaments.

Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Sun, the third seed of the Jingshan Tennis Open, swept past Elena Pridankina of Russia, 6-2, 6-4, to set up a clash with Eala for a second time in their respective careers.

The last time Eala and Sun faced each other was at the Wimbledon Championships in London last year

Sun, then ranked at No. 39, breezed past Eala, 7-6, 7-5, in the third qualifying round and advanced to the main draw.

A lot has happened to Eala after that match in London.

Eala saw herself rise to the Top 100 of the WTA rankings after her magical run in the Miami Open last March, where she made it as far as the semifinal and defeated Grand Slam champions like Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, Madison Keys of the United States, and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland.

The Filipina ace finally entered the main draw of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open after struggling to qualify last year.

Eala even pulled off a stunning upset over world No. 12 Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, for her first Grand Slam main draw win of her career.

She even won her first WTA title last 6 September when she lifted the Guadalajara 125 Open trophy in Mexico after beating Panna Udvardy of Hungary, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Meanwhile Sun has yet to win a WTA title with the Monterrey Open last year her closest shot to a title, falling to Linda Nosková of the Czech Republic, 6-7, 4-6 in the final.

Outside of the Jingshan Tennis Open, Sun’s best campaign in 2025 was at the Abu Dhabi Open, a WTA 500 tournament, where she reached the Last 16 before losing to Filipino-Canadian star Leylah Fernandez, 4-6, 0-6.

If Eala wins over Sun, she will face the winner between Chinese netter Ye Xin Ma and No. 2 seed Talia Gibson of Australia for the championship.

Eala will be gunning for her second WTA title as well as for the cash prize of $15,500 or around P 900,000 as well as ranking points that could get into the Top 50.