appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Tom Bell

Cristina Bucsa had it all her own way while Victoria Mboko was forced to fight a friend for supremacy as each booked a place in the final of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open on Saturday.
Mboko, 19, looked to be heading out of the tournament when under assault from a laser-focused Leylah Fernandez in an all-Canadian encounter at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium.
Flying at a set and 2-1 up in a high-quality second semi-final, Fernandez called for the physiotherapist before returning to the fray with her lower right thigh bandaged, her aura damaged and Mboko emboldened. The teen powered through 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Earlier, Bucsa raced into Sunday’s showpiece, brushing aside an out-of-sorts Maya Joint in straight sets. Mboko got the better of the Spaniard in their only previous meeting, but has seen for herself in the past few days how quickly fortunes can change.

“You need to have some sort of self-confidence in yourself regardless of what results went before,” Mboko said of Bucsa.
“She’s in the final for a reason, she’s playing really good tennis. I just want to focus on tomorrow and you never know what’s gonna happen.”
That point had just been made on centre court. A popular Hong Kong champion in 2023, Fernandez was seeded second here to Mboko’s third, despite the latter’s list of recent scalps and a world ranking one place higher, at 21.
Yet to sustain the potential hinted at in her run to the 2021 US Open final that she lost to Emma Raducanu, the 23-year-old Fernandez recalled that form in an imperious first set of pummelled forehands and rasping backhands, sliced and diced with drop shots that left the less nimble Mboko floundering.
On the rare occasions Mboko tried to dictate at the net, her compatriot and occasional lunch partner would whistle a passing shot either side of her. One such piledriver on Mboko’s serve earned Fernandez a set point, on which the under-pressure Mboko double-faulted.
The spell broke for Fernandez following her treatment. Appearing preoccupied, she was promptly broken to 15 in her least accurate game thus far as momentum swung. Mboko was quick to sense it: while not possessing her opponent’s range of shots, she made her physicality pay and showed enough variety to keep Fernandez on the move.
Successive shots into the net from Fernandez ceded the set, and were to become a theme, to the dismay of a three-quarters-full arena. She was soon to slump to the floor on being broken to trail 3-1 in the decider.
Her next service game was held to love but the writing was on the wall and Fernandez finished where Mboko found herself in set one: losing with a double fault.
“Leylah started off playing really solid, aggressive tennis and it was pretty difficult for me to find some sort of rhythm,” Mboko said.

“I just wanted to try to find a way to stay in there … just try to hang on and any free points I could get, try to take advantage. Any moment where I could turn momentum around, I tried to do it as soon as possible.”
A dominant display from Bucsa before a sparser crowd showed no mercy to the struggling Joint, whose title hopes were ended by a 6-3, 6-1 margin.
The world No 32 from Australia went to pieces when 29th-ranked Bucsa broke to lead 4-3. Where Bucsa was controlled and precise, 19-year-old Joint, straining to return fire, began hitting long and wide. One such error gave up the first set.
Sprinting to victory in the second, Bucsa, 27, belted a forehand into wide open space to earn match point before a resigned Joint found the net.
Bucsa acknowledged that her free passage to the semis, courtesy of No 1 seed Belinda Bencic’s withdrawal, may have helped.
“I expected it to be a close match, but I guess she was a little bit tired,” Bucsa said. “Yesterday she played three sets and that was I think a bit of an advantage for me.”


City tennis chief ‘quietly confident’ Alexandra Eala will play at Hong Kong Open

UK family struggles mean Taiwan’s Garland ‘not over’ losing AU$1 million to Aussie amateur

Australian Open: Hong Kong champs Mboko, Bublik make history; Alcaraz, Gauff win

Victoria Mboko says it’s ‘pretty nice’ to win Hong Kong title after marathon 3-set thriller

Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open

Victoria Mboko into final as misfortune hits Leylah Fernandez at Hong Kong Tennis Open

Victoria Mboko focuses during the all-Canada second semi-final at Victoria Park on Saturday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Leylah Fernandez was in charge of her semi-final until she called for the physio. Photo: Dickson Lee

Cristina Bucsa in control against Maya Joint on Saturday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong Tennis Open: Canadians Fernandez, Mboko to meet in semis, Joint awaits Bucsa

Canada’s Leylah Fernandez beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in straight sets at Victoria Park on Friday. Photo: Elson Li

Maya Joint fires off a forehand during her quarter-final win over Himeno Sakatsume. Photo: Elson Li

Victoria Mboko was ahead by a set and 3-1 when opponent Anna Kalinskaya withdrew. Photo: Elson Li

Hong Kong Tennis Open: Mboko breaks Filipino hearts as top seed Bencic progresses

Victoria Mboko came back from a set down to beat crowd favourite Alexandra Eala on Thursday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Alexandra Eala won three games in a row in the first set, before Mboko did the same. Photo: Eugene Lee

Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic beat China’s Wang Yafan in just over an hour. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong Tennis Open: Maya Joint eyes another title – and Australian grand slam seeding

Maya Joint beat Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia in straight sets on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Tennis Open. Photo: Xinhua

Maya Joint was a set and a break down before beating Latvian Anastasia Sevastova. Photo: Eugene Lee

Sport

Tennis

Hong Kong

All-Canada semi-final goes teenager’s way after Cristina Bucsa punishes errors of Australian opponent Maya Joint


All-Canada semi-final goes teenager’s way after Cristina Bucsa punishes errors of Australian opponent Maya Joint.


WTA (Women's Tennis Association)

Victoria Mboko into final as misfortune hits Leylah Fernandez at Hong Kong Tennis Open

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}All-Canada semi-final goes teenager’s way after Cristina Bucsa punishes errors of Australian opponent Maya Joint

All-Canada semi-final goes teenager’s way after Cristina Bucsa punishes errors of Australian opponent Maya Joint