Claire Liu sweeps past Eala in Hong Kong for first WTA title

Nine straight games to a first title

Claire Liu won the first WTA title of her career on Sunday, beating Alexandra Eala 6-3, 6-0 in the final of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. The 26-year-old American, ranked No. 102 coming into the week, needed one hour and 33 minutes and did not drop a set in any of her five matches at the Hong Kong Open.

Liu was behind early in the first set. From there she took over completely, winning the last nine games of the match. She landed 88 per cent of her first serves and was broken only once. Eala found it hard to keep up on serve: she got 48 per cent of her first serves in, hit four double faults and held only twice in seven service games. The Associated Press reported that Eala appeared to be playing through an injury in the final.

A week of upsets and long waits

Liu had never won a match at the Hong Kong event before this week, and it was only her second WTA final. Her first came in Rabat in 2022, where she lost to Martina Trevisan. Her run included a win over eighth seed Katie Boulter, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round, which was one of the biggest wins of her career. She also beat Tatiana Prozorova and Zeynep Sönmez, then stopped qualifier Alexandra Shubladze in the semi-finals.

Shubladze had been one of the stories of the week after knocking out top seed Sorana Cîrstea in the quarter-finals, the last match of the Romanian's career. Liu ended that run in straight sets and kept up her strong form in the final.

The title moves Liu up to around No. 69 in the rankings, according to Tennis Majors. That is a big jump for a player who started the week outside the top 100. Liu was a junior star who won the Wimbledon girls' title in 2017, but the breakthrough at tour level had taken years.

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Eala's season ends with a final

The result does not take away from a strong week for Eala, who won over the Hong Kong crowd. The 21-year-old from the Philippines survived rain delays and a fightback from Croatia's Antonia Ružić in the quarter-finals, then outlasted Maria Sakkari in three sets to reach the title match. The run reportedly lifted her past Naomi Osaka in the live rankings before the final.

It was not the first time Liu got the better of Eala. The American also beat her in the first round in Guangzhou in October 2025, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Sunday's final was much more one-sided.

The Hong Kong final brought Eala's 2026 season to a close and Liu leaves Asia as a WTA champion for the first time, nine years after her Wimbledon junior title.