Girl Power on the Court

Centre court was quite empty in the late afternoon with overcast skies

The Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open is on and my colleague and I took the afternoon off to check out the state of play in Victoria Park. I think this is the first time I've ever attended the event. About two years ago I was going to go with my friend, but then I realised that I couldn't make it and had to sell my tickets!

So this year we got tickets online, but then it was a drag trying to get the tickets printed. We went to HMV near our office in Causeway Bay, but their ticket machine was down and we had to walk further to Tom Lee Music and up a few floors to get the tickets. Finally!

We made it to the venue and luckily another colleague who went to the tennis tournament yesterday warned us they would be checking our bags so I had to leave two bottles of water and some snacks behind.

Daria Garvilova couldn't keep momentum in the match

Our seats for just over HK$400 a piece were good, on the east side of the stadium and towards the middle so we could see both sides of the court very clearly.

Just when we arrived, the first match of the day was practically over.

But not soon afterwards was the next match -- China's Zhang Shuai versus Daria Gavrilova of Australia. Zhang came out of the gates quickly to establish her pace and was very cool, while Gavrilova started grunting right away.

There's a height difference between the two, Zhang the taller of the two, and in the end seemed more self-assured and patient, letting Gavrilova make more enforced errors. Apparently just before the match, the Australian's right knee acted up and she had to tape it.

In the end Zhang made quick work of Gavrilova, winning 6-1, 6-3 in 67 minutes. It was pretty lop-sided.

We then took a break and had an early dinner. On one of the football pitches were three food trucks, but we were only interested in one of them selling hamburgers (HK$65). The match between Spaniard Garbine Muguruza and Thai Luksika Kumkhum was broadcast on a large screen and so we ate and watched the game at the same time. A toddler was nearby entertaining his family (and us) which was cute.

The crowd admired Luksika Kumkum for her fighting spirit

For dessert we got an ice cream cone from Kowloon Dairy for HK$15 and then headed back to centre court, but we weren't allowed in until the set was over and they kept going to deuce so we finished our ice creams.

Nevertheless when we sat down the rest of the match was exciting -- Kumkhum is ranked 105th in the world against Muguruza at number 13. The latter must have thought she could put away the Thai very easily, but she was wrong.

Kumkhum was tenacious and even though she was short, she made up for it in grit and determination, fighting for as many points as she could. When she made a mistake she didn't get mad, and instead smiled which made us even more appreciative of her efforts. Whenever she won a point we cheered her on.

However, Muguruza was too good for her and in the end the Spaniard won 6-2, 7-5.

Next on court was China's Wang Qiang ranked number 24 in the world and Elina Svitolina from the Ukraine at number 5.

Wang Qiang was a very cool operator on the court

These two players are quite evenly matched, though it was Wang who was easily more confident on the court than Svitolina; many of the Ukrainian's first serves did not go in, and she also made more enforced errors than Wang.

The first set Wang won 6-2 and was getting ready to close off the second set at 5-2 when the rain started coming down and the chair umpire suspended play, and we cleared the court to go home.

Wang was only a few points away!

But we were thrilled to watch these matches and get to know some of these up and coming players on the circuit. It's too bad Naomi Osaka, who was supposed to come was injured, but hopefully we'll see her next year.