Although Clara Tauson threw down eleven aces and capitalised on all four of her break point opportunities, she needed five match points to hold serve in the last game to beat the plucky No. 4 seed Varvara Gracheva 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the inaugural Prudential Hong Kong Tennis 125. The 21-year-old Tauson, who had already won tour titles at Lyon and Luxembourg in 2021 to peak at No. 33, is currently ranked No. 72 and aiming for a strong finish to the season. Earlier this year, she was a finalist at the WTA 125 Oeiras and defeated Jelena Ostapenko and Sofia Kenin to reach the fourth round of the French Open.
Former world No. 32 Ajla Tomljanovic, a finalist at the WTA 250 Birmingham earlier this year, broke Anna Blinkova twice in the first set and controlled the tempo with deep strikes off both wings to keep her opponent at bay. However, in the second set, in an opening game that lasted 16 minutes, Blinkova overcame four break points to hold for 1-0. The No. 7 seed then proceeded to break the Aussie three times to snatch it 6-2.
Despite a sub-par second set by her usual lofty standards, Tomljanovic regrouped beautifully to carve out a double break 4-0 third set lead before she settled for a 6-4 2-6 6-3 victory over a determined Blinkova. She is now 4-0 lifetime against the Russian.
Tomljanovic, a former Wimbledon and US Open quarterfinalist, will face Clara Tauson for the title tomorrow.
Tomljanovic: “I felt good coming into this match. She’s been playing well all tournament so I’m happy I can get through. The tournament’s well organised, the hotel’s just a few minutes away from the stadium, the food’s great, people are awesome, I love the shopping, I’m really enjoying myself here. I just want to keep the momentum going.”
In the women’s doubles semifinal, top-seeded Ulrikke Eikeri and Wu Fang-Hsien, currently ranked No. 36 and No. 52 respectively, yielded two service breaks in the early going, as Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse ran away with opening set 6-2. In the second set, Niculescu and Ruse were down a break twice but even though they were able to recover the break each time to force a tiebreak, Eikeri and Wu produced four mini-breaks to dominate, taking it 7-6(1).
The ensuing third set super-tiebreak saw the Romanian duo register four mini-breaks to take command against top-seeded Eikeri and Wu, winning their semifinal encounter 6-2 6-7(2) [10-4] to go progress to tomorrow’s final against Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya. Niculescu and Ruse are Romanian BJKC teammates. Together, in 2021, they reached the US Open quarterfinals and won the W100 Nottingham title.
Eikeri was ranked as high as No. 26 in the world, was a finalist at Stuttgart in 2024, and a French Open mixed doubles runner-up in 2022. Wu Fang-Hsien reached a career-high No. 45 and captured her maiden tour title at the WTA 250 Thailand Open this year. She also reached the WTA 500 Washington final and won the WTA 125 Makarska title in 2024. Eikeri and Wu reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 Dubai earlier this year.
Niculescu and Ruse will face Japanese pair Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya in the final tomorrow. Ninomiya was a runner-up at the 2018 French Open, owns six career tour titles, and reached a career-high No. 20. Hibino held a career-high doubles ranking of No. 43 and owns three career tour titles.
Niculescu: “I enjoy playing Centre Court with Gabby. Super happy to be in the final and thank you to all the fans, especially the few Romanian ones I see over there, thank you guys for supporting us! We need to go get some rest, get a massage, have some good food, and get ready for the final.”