Hong Kong Tennis Open: Mboko breaks Filipino hearts as top seed Bencic progresses

Canada’s Victoria Mboko broke hundreds of Filipino fans’ hearts at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Thursday, as she battled back from a set down to knock out Alexandra Eala and progress to the quarter-finals.

The world No 21’s victory came despite most of the crowd inside Victoria Park Tennis Stadium roaring on the young Philippine player in an epic second-round match that lasted two hours and 27 minutes.

The tie started at full throttle, with Eala winning three games in a row in the first set, only for Mboko to immediately do the same before the duo slugged it out over a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.

“I want to first congratulate Alex for an amazing match,” Mboko said. “It’s never easy to play one of your friends for such a long time. So, I got a little bit emotional, but I also want to thank everyone who came to support today.”

The match also had a moment of controversy, as Eala’s second and deciding breakpoint in the first set came as Mboko argued that the partisan crowd’s cheers during a rally had distracted her, but she shrugged it off afterwards.

“I loved the support today, the match was so much more intense and super tough for me, so I think I really had to fight for every single point. And yeah, I think it was just an unbelievable match.”

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