Eudice Chong and En Shuo Liang snatched a win from the jaws of defeat in their thrilling doubles final at the Philippine Women’s Open.
Eudice Chong and En Shuo Liang completed an emphatic comeback after being down big in the second set to claim the maiden Philippine Women’s Open doubles crown against Quinn Gleason and Filipino-American Sabrina Santamaria, 2-6, 7-6(2), 10-6, at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center late Friday night.
Chong and Liang were down by three games, 2-5, in the final before they slowly but surely chipped away at the lead in a second set that lasted over an hour.
The Asian duo saved two match points in Game 8 after holding their serve to get within a game, 4-5.
Then, they also forced a tiebreak, 6-all, with another hold on serve, further frustrating the American pair that was already painstakingly to claiming the title.
During the tiebreak, Chong and Liang jumped to a 5-1 lead that Gleason and Santamaria could no longer deny, 7-2.
In the third set tie break, Gleason and Santamaria made things interesting when they went on a 5-1 run that flipped a 1-7 deficit to a 6-8 scoreline.
But the top-seeded pair lost serve to bring Chong and Liang to match point. Santamaria was then unable to return one of their hits in the subsequent rally to complete the comeback for Chong and Liang, 10-6.
This is Chong’s third WTA Challenger title in doubles while Liang gets her 3rd at the WTA 125 level.
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Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.