Alex Eala Injury News After Painful Hong Kong Open Final Loss

Alex Eala was clearly playing through pain in the women’s singles final at the Hong Kong Open Sunday, but the fast-rising Philippines tennis star did not retire from the match. But she needed to call a medical timeout in the first set while trailing 3-4 in the match she lost in straight sets to Claire Liu.

Eala played on with heavy wrapping on her right leg and fell 3-6, 0-6, ending her season with an injury question that has no public answer yet.

The title match began Sunday, Nov. 8, at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium in Hong Kong, with first serve at 4 p.m. on Centre Court. Eala, the No. 2 seed, arrived ranked No. 17 to Liu’s No. 102. Eala is 21 and left-handed, while Liu is 26 and right-handed. The unseeded American had won four matches without losing a set and was chasing her first WTA title.

“First and foremost, I want to congratulate Claire on an amazing tournament, a great week and a great match. Very, very well deserved and congratulations,” Eala said after the match, as quoted by PhilStar Global. “This season has changed my life. It changed my life for the better. I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve put in this year. And we’re the only ones who truly know what it took to arrive to this point in our journey.”

Alex Eala Injury Details and Medical Timeout

Eala had opened well, breaking Liu to love for a 2-1 lead. Liu answered to level at 3-3, then took the lead at 4-3. That is when Eala called for a medical timeout, according to GMA News. She spoke with a trainer, then returned with extra wrapping around her right thigh, just above the knee, according to Tennis Up To Date.

Liu pulled ahead 5-3 with another break, according to the Inquirer, and closed the set 6-3. She then swept the second set, when Eala failed to win a single game.

But despite her obvious pain, Eala never retired. The match ended on court after two sets rather than with a stoppage.

The problem did not surface for the first time Sunday. Eala wore tape on her right knee in her first-round win over Australia’s Emerson Jones, 6-4, 6-3, and afterward she described it as “nothing out of the ordinary” this late in a long season, according to tennis365. She said she felt healthy.

One week earlier, at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Eala took a medical timeout for her ankle during a three-set loss to Diana Shnaider. She finished that match too.

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Alex Eala’s Next Steps After Hong Kong Open Final

The final was Eala’s last tournament of 2026, according to tennis365, so no match is waiting on her calendar and no scheduled event forces a quick return. The WTA schedule resumes in January, which gives her weeks without matches.

She reached Sunday by working through a heavy week. Eala won tiebreak-heavy matches against Valentova and Ruzic before the semifinal, and she outlasted Maria Sakkari in a rain-soaked semifinal, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, in a match that ran two hours and 43 minutes, according to Yardbarker. Repeated rain delays stretched the day. Liu, by comparison, beat her semifinal opponent 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 58 minutes, according to Yardbarker. The tournament director credited Eala’s Filipino fans for near-complete sellouts all week, according to Tennis Tonic.

Eala looked ahead to the final in positive terms, a mindset she tied to the lessons of her whole 2026 season. She said she wanted to “cap it off with a good match, win or lose,” according to tennis365, after her semifinal win over Sakkari. The loss to Liu did not match that hope, but the week still ended with a runner-up finish.

The season itself was a breakthrough. Eala won her first tour title in Washington this year and climbed to a career-high ranking of 17th.

Liu now leads their head-to-head 2-0 after beating Eala in Guangzhou in 2025, where she rallied from a set down.

Whether the knee, the thigh or both need attention is still unanswered, and Eala’s own account of it has yet to come.

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