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Eala adjusted to change quickly and enjoyed the incredible support<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alexandra Eala<\/strong> (#17) successfully started her journey at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Tuesday, despite a last-minute change of opponent. Australian lucky loser Emerson Jones<\/strong> replaced Alycia Parks, who defeated Eala this year in Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Against the 18-year-old (#132) and former Junior World No.1, the second seed took the best start, leading 4-0, but things got a bit more complicated after that. Jones won three games in a row (4-3) and was serving to get back to 4-4 when Eala got the edge again (5-3). But it took the Filipino another exchange of breaks (5-4, 6-4) to clinch that set on her first opportunity. It was a bit the same in the second set, with Eala up 5-1 before Jones tried to turn things around. But the sensation of the year was too strong in the end, ending it all on her second match point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eala will now have a tricky match against one of the many young Czech players on the rise, 19-year-old Tereza Valentova<\/strong>. She won her first match in Hong Kong on Monday against Japanese qualifier Himeno Sakatsume (6-3, 7-5) and will try to repeat her performance earlier this year in Doha when she defeated Eala. The Czech leads 2-0 in their H2H<\/a> as she also won their first match in Osaka in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did Eala say?<\/u><\/strong> And Emerson today played really well. She really went for her shots, so it was tough. It was a good battle, so I really enjoyed it. (…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hit my career high this week, so if I’m tired and I’m 17 in the world, that’s great. Being tired is a blessing as well. It means that I’ve been working hard; I’ve been having lots of matches, competing a lot. Being tired means that I’m healthy enough to work and in a healthy mindset to put myself in these situations of pressure, so, yes, I think I’m doing great. (On the support from Hong Kong fans)<\/em> Hong Kong is a very familiar place for me. I’ve been competing here ever since I was very young, so I’ve been here many, many times. There’s a huge Filipino community, and the Hong Kong community has been very, very hospitable towards me, my family, and my team, and all of the players, really, so besides it being geographically fairly close to home, it also feels very familiar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Top seed Cirstea escapes in a thriller<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Top seed Sorana Cirstea<\/strong> (#15) found a way in the end to go through Maria Timofeeva <\/strong>(#70), but it took her three sets (7-6(8), 1-6, 7-5) and nearly 3h15! Timofeeva looked like she had all the momentum on her side when she broke early in the third (2-0) after cruising through the second set, while Cirstea seemed to struggle to bounce back from a nearly 1h20-long first set. She was up 5-2 in that set with two set points at 5-4, but she ended up having to fight very hard to clinch it, and she paid for it right after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Romanian had the experience on her side and her well-known fighting spirit, and so she clawed her way back into that match against the promising 22-year-old who had just won the doubles title in Guangzhou and a WTA 125 title in Porto in September. Cirstea sealed that victory with a second break in that last set at her second match point, and she will now have to recover before facing Mary Stoiana, who beat Venus Williams in the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did Cirstea say?<\/u><\/strong> In one of the early surprises of the week, Paula Badosa (#57) couldn\u2019t get past lucky loser Elena Pridankina (#206). The Spaniard retired (illness) after losing the first set (7-5) despite being up 4-1 and fighting for over an hour out there. Pridankina will now face another surprise: Qualifier Alexandra Shubladze <\/strong>(#136), who ousted the seventh seed Liudmila Samsonova<\/strong> (#40) in three sets (5-7, 6-1, 6-2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gibson, Joint and Sonmez go through, and local favorites thrive in doubles<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Talia Gibson<\/strong> (#36) didn\u2019t fall into the trap. The Australian, who played the final in Singapore (WTA 500) a few weeks ago, had a rough first round at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open against Oleksandra Oliynykova<\/strong> (#62). The Ukrainian, with her incredibly creative and different game style, has made waves on tour this year and is never easy to face. But Gibson showed her confidence lately and found a way to clinch a decisive first set before cruising to victory (7-6(5), 6-1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gibson was the first to lose her serve in that match at 3-2, but she got it back right away before taking a 5-3 lead. Yet Oliynykova kept coming back in that match, first to 5-5 and then from 3-1 down in the tie-break before being up 5-3. Gibson, who had to fight hard to hold for 6-5 in that set and was now back against the wall in that tie-break, bounced back to win four points in a row and so that hour-long set at her first opportunity. She broke early in the second set (2-1) and ran away with the match. Gibson will now play against Aliaksandra Sasnovich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did Gibson say?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday I just really wanted to focus on myself out there. I knew she’s a tough competitor. She has a lot of variety in her game. So I knew I was going to have to really just fully commit to my game today. And I think I did that really well. I’m really happy with how I played today. I think, you know, it\u2019s just about trying to finish the season off as strong as possible. It’s been an awesome year already. Obviously, this is the last week for me, but I still want to go out and give it the best shot I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zeynep Sonmez<\/strong> (#67) delivered a strong performance on Tuesday to defeat the always powerful Dayana Yastremska<\/strong> (#99) in straight sets (6-4, 6-2). The Turkish player will now challenge the winner of the match between Leylah Fernandez and Sofia Kenin in the next round for a guaranteed blockbuster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a close first set, with Sonmez saving two break points to stay ahead (4-3) before taking the Ukrainian\u2019s serve on her third chance (5-4) and closing the set out on her first set point after saving a break point. Sonmez then quickly took over the second set (3-1) and didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 100% Aussie battle of the day, Maya Joint<\/strong> (#90) defeated Maddison Inglis<\/strong> (#135) in straight sets (7-5, 6-2). The 20-year-old will now face the fourth seed Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joint had many chances to have an easier time in that first set, as she was up 2-0 and then had a set point at 5-4, but Inglis fought hard to turn it into a true contest. One more break did the trick for Joint at the end of the first set, and she kept pushing forward, getting three break points at 1-0, before having to fight her way back from a break down (1-2) and so winning the last five games of that match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did Joint say?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI’m really happy with today’s win. It’s always tough playing against a friend, playing against Maddie. But I’m happy I was able to kind of get some momentum there in the second set. And I think it’s a good first win to get in. (On playing Sakkari next)<\/em> I\u2019ve never played her before. I’ll have to watch matches from her, but I think it’s going to be a really good match.\u201d Adithya Karunaratne and Shek Ying Cheuk<\/strong> didn\u2019t have the same happy ending, but they put on a great fight against Tang Qianhui and Ye Qiu Yu<\/strong> (6-3, 6-4), who will now face the top seeds, Talia Gibson and Maddison Inglis. \u201cIt was quite a novel experience. It was a first for everything, singles and doubles, first time at a WTA. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, especially with the fans, which is not something that we get to see too often at the ITF circuit. I was super grateful for the opportunity to play, and I think we had a lot of fun and we were super close. Even though it was our first time playing together, I felt like we had a good vibe going on,\u201d Karunaratne said. \u201cWe have chemistry together; we work well together, and we find different ways to work through the match. We get really close in each game. We didn’t just give them the match; they had to work for it,\u201d Cheuk agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YOU HAVE TO SEE THAT!<\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wing Chun in the city! Qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich<\/strong>, who won her first match in the main draw on Monday, took a break from tennis to experience Wing Chun in Hong Kong. It\u2019s still counting as training!<\/p>\n\n\n\n COME BACKSTAGE!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leylah Fernandez<\/strong> took some time on Tuesday to go and play with a group of lucky tennis fans. After her title in Singapore and the finals played in Ningbo and Tokyo, the Canadian enjoyed the break before getting back into competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NOW, WHAT? SO MUCH!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Third seed and in-form player of the moment Leylah Fernandez will start her campaign in Hong Kong in a blockbuster against Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin. Greek star Maria Sakkari will also be at work on Centre Court against Maya Joint, while Venus Williams will come back for doubles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SINGLES DRAW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n QUALIFICATIONS DRAW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOUBLES DRAW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ORDER OF PLAY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n EVERYTHING you need to know about the tournament<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pictures of the players <\/strong>are free to use; just please credit Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2026<\/u>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n JOIN THE FUN!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Join us on social media (accounts linked below) so you don\u2019t miss a thing of the action on and off the court!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Official website<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Instagram<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>X<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-93858","news-detail","type-news-detail","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.tennishk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/image-26.jpeg\")
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\u201cA lot of energy, a lot of motivation to be here, to play in front of the crowd, and also to kick-start my last tournament. I’m definitely not used to my opponent changing that late, so it was just a new experience. You kind of have to be ready for anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(On Valentova next)<\/em> I’ve had very tough matches against her in the past. I think she’s proven to be a really good player, not just against me, but, you know, she’s played really well, so it should be a good challenge for me. All I can do is do my best to prepare, and when I’m out there, fight with everything I have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt was a great match, and Maria played absolutely amazing today. She was hitting winners left and right, and I’m very happy with this win and very proud of the way I fought, but I have to give credit to her because I thought she played absolutely amazing. And at the end, the crowd was really getting into it. We actually started the match during the daytime and finished at night. It was a very long match. I think it\u2019s the only match that I played past three hours this year, and the crowd really got into it, really got involved, and towards the end I could feel their energy, and I feel they pulled me through and they were really helping, and they were cheering loudly, and I absolutely loved it. Right now recovery is important, but I’m quite lucky to be in good shape, and I think I will probably do all the normal things like biking, stretching, massage, ice bath. Maybe just a little bit longer and focus a little bit more, but I’m not playing tomorrow, so this is good, and by Thursday I should be 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.tennishk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/image-29.jpeg\")
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In doubles, Local favorite Hong Yi Cody Wong<\/strong> (above, on the left)<\/em> and Xinyu Jiang<\/strong> delighted the big crowd attending that match by defeating third seeds Ingrid Neel and Giuliana Olmos (6-4, 7-5) to reach the quarterfinals. \u201cWe played better than what we had predicted. We practised together a bit and combined well today. Having played singles a couple of days ago, I got used to the courts, which are slow compared to the ones I played on in Guangzhou,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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