MANILA – Second-seed Filipino Alexandra Eala defeated Australian Emerson Jones, 6-4, 6-3, in the first round of the WTA 250 Prudential Hong Kong Open Tuesday night at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium outdoor hardcourt.
The world No. 7 Eala was scheduled to face American Alycia Parks, who withdrew due to a right shoulder injury and was replaced by the 18-year-old Jones as a lucky loser.
Eala will next face Czech Tereza Valentova, who pulled off a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Japanese Himeno Sakatsume.
Meanwhile, top seed Romanian Sorana Cirstea survived Uzbek Maria Timofeeva, 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5, to advance against American Mary Stoiana, who beat compatriot Venus Williams, 6-2, 6-3.
No. 4 Greek Maria Sakkari, No. 5 Australian Talia Gibson and No. 6 Chinese Xinyu Wang also triumphed.
Sakkari downed American Carol Young Suh Lee, 6-1, 6-4, to advance against Australian Maya Joint, who beat compatriot Maddison Inglis, 7-5, 6-2.
Gibson won over Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova, 7-6(5), 6-1, to set up a meeting with Aliaksandra Sasnovich, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over American Katie Volynets.
Wang, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Hong Kong’s Adithya Karunaratne, will meet either Croatian Antonia Ruzic or Alina Charaeva.
No. 8 British Katie Boulter prevailed over Swiss Viktorija Golubic, 6-2, 7-6(2), to advance against American Claire Liu, who beat Tatiana Prozorova, 6-2, 6-4.
The Hong Kong Open is being held simultaneously with WTA 250 Chennai Open in India.
These are the last two tournaments on the WTA Tour before the WTA Finals, which will start on Nov. 8 at Indian Wells. (PNA)
