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| Alex Eala congratulates Victoria Mboko after their game |
Alex Eala bowed out of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open tonight at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, after a hard-fought match with Canadian Victoria Mboko, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The match was not decided until the last set, in which Eala led initially at 4-1, before the third-seed Mboko fired serves at up to 180 kilometers per hour to level up and wrap up the game.
No point in the game was more bitterly fought than the second point in the last set, where they had to fight through eight deuces, before Mboko committed a double fault with Eala on advantage and ended up trailing, 2-0.
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Mboko, who at 19 is already ranked 21 in the Women’s Tennis Association roll
of players against 20-year-old Eala’s 51, said in a post-game on-court interview: “I had to
fight for every point.”
Interviewed later, Mboko added: “It was a difficut match. She was a great player.”
She acknowledged turning to her coach every now and then for comfort during the tough parts of the match, made more stressful by the boisterous support given to Eala by the predominantly Filipino audience but said she took no offence for that.
She also said it was difficult beating a friend, disclosing that she and Eala would sometimes go out together during tournaments, for something as simple as buying bubble iced tea.
Mboko now advances to the quarterfinals where she will face Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, who beat Zhang Shuai of China, 6-1, 6-1.
For her part, Eala said, “I’m happy with how I performed. I gave her a run for her money.”
Again, she thanked all the Filipinos who showed her love and support during her games, and said she is happy and proud of what she has achieved in the sport in the past few months.
"Having put up such a good performance, I was just overwhelmed with emotions, happiness and gratitude for everything that's happened to me this year," she said.
Eala said she it is too early to say if she would be back in Hong Kong next year, but she has enjoyed her stay here because everyone has been welcoming, not just the Filipinos but also the locals.
