HONG KONG — Filipina tennis standout Alex Eala punched her ticket to the semifinals of the WTA 250 Hong Kong Open following a hard-fought straight-set victory over Croatia’s Antonia Ružić, 7-6(7), 7-5, on Friday, November 6.
Eala, currently ranked at a career-high world No. 17, navigated a tightly contested match to secure the win. Reflecting on her resilience during the grueling encounter, she pointed to sheer determination over complex strategy.
“Yeah, I mean, you know when you’re on court, there’s kind of not much else you can think about except how to play, right?” Eala said.
“But yeah, I think more than staying focused, it was just choosing to push through and give everything that I have,” she added.
The victory comes on the heels of another exhausting battle in the Round of 16, where Eala defeated Czech Republic’s Tereza Valentova, 6-4, 7-6(7).
Addressing reporters who noticed her fatigue following that match, the young left-hander embraced the physical demands of her profession.
“At the end of the day, I’m an athlete. So, I get tired, I recover, and then I go back and I do it again,” Eala said in a post-game press conference.
“I choose [to do it] and it’s a constant effort to do it again and again and again and again, no matter whether you’re tired or you feel like you can climb Mount Everest.”
Praising her Croatian opponent for a competitive match, Eala acknowledged the challenging nature of the tournament’s latter stages.
“It was a rollercoaster for sure and an incredible battle, so I don’t know what inspired me or kept me from continuing digging deeper,” she shared.
“But Antonia played a really amazing match and I’m blessed to be able to play another round here,” she added.
Eala now faces a major test in the semifinals against former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari of Greece. The winner of that matchup will advance to the championship round to face either Russia’s Alexandra Shubladze or America’s Claire Liu.