Hong Kong stars Eudice Chong and Cody Wong advance in W40 singles tournament

Hong Kong doubles partners Eudice Chong and Cody Wong Hong-yi had a mixed start at the ITF W40 tournament in Victoria Park, as both women won their singles first rounds on Wednesday but lost their doubles match the day before.

Top seed Chong beat Kobori Momoko of Japan 6-4, 6-7, 6-2, while Wong advanced in straight sets, downing qualifier Anastasia Kovaleva of Russia in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.

Chong, the World No 222, managed a strong start, despite failing to reach the US Open qualifiers.

“That was my target, but unfortunately my ranking was not good enough to bring me there,” Chong said.

“It was close, as I needed a ranking around 10 places better to be in the qualifying round, but it’s all history. I still want to improve my ranking closer to the end of the year with the 2024 Australian Open qualifiers as my next target.”

But she trudged onwards, as the Hongkongers prepare for their next singles matches, with Chong meeting Lu Jia-jing of China in the next stage while Wong faces Yang Ya-yi of Taiwan.

“Lu has beaten me once when we met in Hong Kong several years ago,” Chong said. “And because of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the Chinese players did not take part in overseas tournaments, so they suffered a drastic drop of their rankings. But still, the Chinese players are always top notch.”

Chong and Wong, who last month won their 11th ITF doubles title in a Hong Kong W40 tournament, could not maintain their momentum, losing 6-4, 3-6, 4-10, to a mixed combination from Taiwan and Indonesia in their first round on Tuesday.

“The two opponents are doubles specialists and were not easy to handle,” Chong said. “But our games also lack variation, which made our opponents too comfortable.

“After all, we suffered a lapse of concentration during the match which rarely happens, but it came as a wake-up call before the Asian Games.”

After the W40 tournament, the pair will go to Japan for a W100 tournament in Tokyo next month and are looking to enter a WTA tournament in Osaka as their final preparation for the Asian Games, where Chong will play in all three events.