Eala plunges back into action vs Parks in Hong Kong Open
MANILA, Philippines — With only a short breather, Alex Eala takes her act to the Hong Kong Open against another familiar opponent in Alycia Parks of the United States in Round 1 at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium.
It will be the third duel for them this year with Eala, World No. 19, standing as the heavy favorite this time around as the No. 2 seed just behind top seed WTA No. 16 Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the 250-level tour.
Court designation and game time Mondau (Manila time) are still to be determined.
Parks is World No. 65 but if their previous two duels would be the gauge, a toss-up is projected for a seat in the second round against either No. 405 Xinran Sun of China or No. 87 Tereza Valentova of Czechia.
The 21-year-old Filipina bowed to Parks in Round 1 of the Australian Open, 6-0, 3-6, 2-6, before exacting vengeance in the Round of 64 of the National Bank Open in Canada, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Eala will be marching into Hong Kong fresh from a quarterfinal finish in the WTA500 Toray Pan Pacific in Tokyo, where she was the No. 8 seed.
That ended Eala’s string of early exits albeit she could have gone all the way to the Final Four if not for multiple stumbles in a tough 6-2, 6-7, 4-6 meltdown against the world No. 13 and Tokyo No. 3 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia.
It’s the second straight loss for Eala against Shnaider in as many weeks after a 5-7, 4-6, loss in the WTA500 Ningbo Open in China.
Before that, Eala in spite of being seeded and higher-ranked by at least 50 places exited early in the WTA500 Singapore Open and WTA1000 Wuhan Open not counting her bronze medal finish as the No. 1 seed in the 20th Asian Games although not part of the WTA Tour.
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