By Al S. Mendoza
AS I write this, Alex Eala was set to face Alycia Parks on Tuesday, November 3, in the first round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) 250 Prudential Hong Kong Open.
I had to do this in obedience to deadline tyranny. Thus, this has to be completed hours before Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. match between Eala and Parks at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium in the former British Crown Colony.
No cause for worry if we go by statistics.
Eala should blow by Parks as Alex is seeded No. 2 in Hong Kong behind No. 1 Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
In world rankings, Sorana is No. 16—just a notch higher than No. 17 Eala.
Parks, who turns 26 on December 31, 2026, won’t be a tough customer for Eala even as the American bet from Atlanta, Georgia, boasts of a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 beating of Eala in their first meeting last January in the 2026 Australian Open.
Eala had since recovered from that stigma—a result of rookie jitters in the year’s traditional first major—as she had avenged that defeat 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the Toronto Open in Canada last August.
Parks, a towering 6-foot-1 from Atlanta, Georgia, had her highest ranking of No. 40 in 2023.
A win by Eala over No. 65 Parks would push Alex to a second-round match against either Xinran Sun or Tereza Valentova.
Sun is a Chinese teenager ranked No. 405 and Valentova from Czechia is No. 87 in the world.
But seedings and rankings can be deceiving, if not tricky, as players become seemingly on equal footing once they begin play.
Eala reached the Round of 16 of the 2025 Hong Kong Open, failing to advance after losing to Canada’s Victoria Mboko 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
The Hong Kong Open is the culmination of Eala’s gruelling 2026 campaign that brought her to high-level battles in the Middle East, Europe, America and Asia, icing her dizzying odyssey with her breakthrough win in the Mubadala WTA 500 Open in Washington DC last August.
Eala was doing well in Tokyo last week, but pitifully bowed to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinal after a brutal three-setter lasting two hours and 52 minutes.
It was, indeed, a shame that Eala, 21, would waste a convincing 6-2 first-set win, losing grip of a possible victory when she forced a 5-all tie in the second-set tiebreak from 3-5 down.
But in a ghastly blunder, Eala double-faulted, yielding a 6-5 lead to the 22-year-old Shnaider. A smashing ace gave Shnaider a 7-5 win to force the deciding third set.
With momentum on her side, Shnaider quickly sped to a 3-1 lead in the final set, clinching a routine 6-4 win to wrap up the match as Eala just couldn’t arrest a faulty serve that saw her commit seven double faults against only one by the super steady Russian.
With many of the game’s heavyweights absent in Hong Kong, will Eala finally deliver and win the title worth $37,390?
Only time will tell.
THAT’S IT Yaxel Lendeborg, a 24-year-old rookie of American-Dominican descent, bears watching in the 2026 NBA (National Basketball Association) season. He scored 37 points on Monday to power the Golden State Warriors to a 124-112 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. His heroics came as Warriors star Steph Curry watched from the bench nursing a knee injury. Said Warrior coach Steve Kerr of Lendeborg: “…he’s so skilled and so talented that he’s making all kinds of plays out there.”
A star in the making? We’ll see.
MANILA (UPDATED) — Filipina tennis star Alex Eala shrugged off a late change in opponents to advance to the second round of the Hong Kong Tennis Open on Tuesday night in Victoria Park.
Eala battled past Australian lucky loser Emerson Jones, 6-4, 6-3, to progress to the last 16 in her last tournament of the year.
Second-seeded Eala was supposed to play a familiar foe in Alycia Parks in the first round, but the American withdrew due to a shoulder injury. World no. 132 Jones, who lost in the qualifiers to Alexandra Shubladze, stepped in to take her place.
“I’m definitely not used to my opponent changing that late,” said the Filipina star. “It was just a new experience. I guess that’s the tour, you kind of have to be ready for anything.” (C. Naredo/abs-cbn)
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