Alex Eala has booked her place into the final of the Hong Kong Open for the first time in her career.
Eala had not dropped a set prior to the semi-finals in Hong Kong, but she was forced to go the distance before beating former world number three Maria Sakkari 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to book her spot in the final.
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This is the second final Eala has reached in 2026, having won the Washington Open earlier this year, and she will now be hoping to add the Hong Kong title to her growing resume.
When speaking on court after beating Sakkari, Eala revealed her plans ahead of the Hong Kong Open final.
Alex Eala states her intent to try to be ‘positive’ in the Hong Kong Open final
It was a battle for Eala all the way through the match, including in the deciding set where she was pegged back from 4-1 down to 4-4, before recomposing to win the final two games of the match and claim victory.
When asked about this in her on-court interview, Eala explained what her mindset was when Sakkari levelled the match up.
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“I think in that moment she really stepped up and brought what she needed to bring to come back,” said Eala. “I tried every point to stay there and step up myself.”
Sakkari was not the only thing that Eala had to contend with, as there were also a number of interruptions in the match due to rain, but she was once again able to use her mentality to stop this derailing her chances.
“I think I was just blank,” admitted Eala. “It was a lot of patience but a lot of focus gave me time to really focus in on the next point. I am really happy I managed to come out of that as a better player.”
Eala will now look ahead to the final in Hong Kong, where she will face American Claire Liu, as she explained that she is going to try to be positive in the time she has before this championship match.
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“I think the ability and conscious choice to be there and stay there and be positive was a really big point of my match today and my mentality,” added Eala. “I guess not just Washington but everything I learned this year, to try and cap it off with a good match, I am going to try and be positive going into the final.”
As well as remaining positive, Eala will also be hoping to repeat the numbers of having hit 79% first serves in against Sakkari, who she also created 22 break point opportunities against.
Eala is ranked over 80 places higher than her final opponent Liu, but it is actually the American who won their only previous meeting, which took place at the Guangzhou Open last year. Eala will be hoping to avoid this happening again when she faces Liu in the Hong Kong final on Sunday, November 8.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
