Use the standard Hausdorff state-space convention, so compact sets are closed. Let be any closed set and choose from exponential tightness. The weak large deviation principle applies to the compact set , while
The principle of the largest exponential term gives
Let . This is the full closed-set upper bound; the open-set lower bound was already present.
For goodness, fix and choose . The complement is open. Its lower bound and its exponential-tightness upper estimate imply
Thus and . Lower semicontinuity makes this sublevel set closed, so it is a closed subset of a compact set and therefore compact. This proves that exponential tightness upgrades a weak large deviation principle to the full principle with the same good rate function.