In a highly-anticipated battle between friends and two of the breakout stars on the WTA Tour this season, Victoria Mboko proved she had just a bit more when the match was on the line.
Alex Eala could not hold on to a one-set advantage and a 4-1 lead in the third, eventually falling to the third-seeded Canadian, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, in the second round of the WTA 250 Hong Kong Open on Thursday.
Eala got off to a tentative start, falling behind 15-40 on her serve in the opening game. But she quickly found her rhythm and recovered to hold serve, gaining the boost she needed to break Mboko in the second game and race to a 3-0 lead.
Mboko, now the highest-ranked Canadian at world No. 21, displayed her trademark resilience by sweeping the next three games to level the score at 3-all.
But Eala had another run in her, holding serve twice and breaking the 19-year-old in the eighth game to take the first set, 6-3.
The second set, however, belonged to Mboko.
The rising teen star unleashed the full arsenal that helped her win the Canadian Open last August. She peppered Eala with strong groundstrokes and booming serves to pull away from a 2-all deadlock to a 4-2 advantage.
That was all the cushion Mboko needed, as she closed out the set in the ninth game to force a decider.
That set the stage for a thrilling third set — a fitting climax to what had been an exquisite display of world-class tennis from two evenly matched youngsters.
Eala once again drew first blood by holding serve. The game of the match came in the second game, which went to deuce eight times before Eala finally converted her fourth break point to go up 2-0.
Mboko responded with a break of her own to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Eala surged ahead again, winning the next two games for what seemed like a commanding 4-1 lead.
Or so everyone thought.
Mboko refused to let the match slip away.
Showing poise under pressure, she broke a fading Eala twice more and blanked the Filipina the rest of the way, sealing the comeback with a 6-4 win after two hours and twenty-eight minutes of gripping tennis.
Both Mboko and Eala have enjoyed parallel breakthroughs in WTA 1000 events this year.
Eala’s came during the Miami Open last March, when she stunned three Grand Slam champions — Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys, and Jelena Ostapenko — en route to a semifinal finish.
Mboko, for her part, triumphed over Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Naomi Osaka to capture the Canadian Open title in front of her home crowd.
Eala’s WTA season has now officially come to a close — unless last-minute changes occur — giving her time to rest before leading the Philippine campaign in the Southeast Asian Games this December.
