MANILA, Philippines — Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala finally scored a victory against two-time tormentor Tereza Valentova of Czechia, 6-4, 7-6, to reach the quarterfinals of the 2026 Hong Kong Open at the Victoria Park Tennis Stadium on Thursday evening.
This was Eala’s first win against Valentova after losses at the 2025 Japan Open and 2026 Qatar Open.
The straight sets win, however, did not tell the whole story as the second frame lasted an hour and 32 minutes.
Trailing 5-3, Eala dug deep and reeled off three straight games to move ahead 6-5.
Valentova recovered and forced a tiebreak to level the set at 6-all.
In the tiebreak, Eala seized control with a series of powerful swings, racing to a 5-0 lead as Valentova struggled to respond.
The Czech fought back with four consecutive points to close the gap to 5-4.
Eala then struck a loaded crosscourt winner to create match point, but Valentova held her composure and won the next two points to level the score at 6-all.
The players traded points until the score reached 7-all. Eala produced one final decisive swing that landed cleanly to go ahead at 8-7.
“I was so nervous. It was so tough, really tough. I think Tereza played incredibly, and we took the match to a high level, you can see it in the score,” Eala said.
“It was a long tiebreak for sure.”
It took four match points before Eala finally secured the victory.
