Actually it's just the second round. It's not the semi finals yet. And I wouldn't call it enough material either, but maybe that's just me.
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In the manga there are very brief references to what went on in the individual tournament (in a conversation between Fujita and Kazekoshi's mahjong coach iirc); the animators took that material and turned it into the 3 episodes worth. It is very likely imo that they conferred with the mangaka.
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It was the other way around, that chapter of the manga was released after its equivalent anime episode. What the manga did was taking the anime fillers and making them canon.