Wong battled for just under two hours but ultimately succumbed 6-7 (7), 3-6 in the hard-fought encounter.
The SAR tennis ace put up quite a fight in the opening set of his match against Gea in Los Cabos.
Gea led 5-4 in the opening set when Wong saved two set points to force the tiebreaker.
Wong next saved another four more set points before finally losing the first set.
While the defeat prevents him from reaching the final, the tournament still represents a career milestone for the young Hong Kong talent.
By advancing to the final four, he has secured the best result of his ATP Tour career and officially cracked the world’s top 100 rankings.
Gea, though ranked lower than Wong, proved to be a formidable obstacle.
The Frenchman has been in excellent form this year, reaching three ATP Challenger finals and claiming one title along the way. He now ranks 95th in the world.
Wong’s impressive path to the semi-finals included a string of statement wins.
He dispatched American Darwin Blanch in straight sets in the round of 32, before pulling off the biggest upset of his career by eliminating top seed Jiri Lehecka in the round of 16.
He carried that momentum into Friday, where he overcame Jenson Brooksby in straight sets to book his first-ever ATP Tour semi-final berth.
During that electrifying stretch, his live world ranking skyrocketed to a career-high number 90.
The result sends Gea into his first career ATP Tour final where he will face eighth-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who beat fifth-seeded Briton Cameron Norrie 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. (With contributions from Reuters)