Hong Kong number one Zhang Ling and her Kazakhstan partner, Zarina Diyas, lost the doubles final of the Chevalier Hong Kong ITF Women's Circuit tennis tournament at Victoria Park on Friday.
After going down 6-4, 6-2 to Japanese pair Misa Eguchi and Eri Hozumi, Zhang said: "I'm bitterly disappointed. We didn't play as well as we could have. Zarina was still a little bit tired from her singles match earlier and I just couldn't really focus as well as I did in our earlier games."
"Over the week, I am happy though. This is only the fourth tournament I have paired with [Diyas] and this is the first tournament we have won a match. It has given us more confidence. We focus more on singles than doubles, but playing doubles is good for both our games and it's great we could be in the final, especially in Hong Kong, my home town," said Zhang, who will now travel to Egypt to play in two ITF events.
Diyas earlier came from behind to beat China's Zhang Xinyuan 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6-2) in their singles semi-final and the second seed will play unseeded Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova in the final on Saturday. Kulichkova beat Pauline Parmentia of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in their semi-final.