Eudice Chong overcomes 12th seeds, pesky bee to fly Hong Kong flag in French Open doubles
Hongkonger and Slovenian Veronika Erjavec to play for quarter-final spot on Monday; Wang Xiyu, mainland China’s last singles hope, bows out
Eudice Chong will aim to take another step towards establishing herself in tennis’ upper echelons when she partners Veronika Erjavec in the third round of the French Open women’s doubles on Monday.
Flying the Hong Kong flag in Paris following Coleman Wong Chak-lam’s first-round exit, Chong and Slovenian Erjavec overcame 12th seeds Caty McNally and Storm Hunter, and a pesky bee, to advance from round two on Saturday.
They will battle Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Liang En-shuo, the Chinese Taipei player who is a close friend and regular doubles partner of Chong’s, for a quarter-final spot.
Up to a career-high world No 71, after she claimed her first WTA 250 title alongside Belgium’s Magali Kempen at the Morocco Open last week, Chong said: “My goal now is to challenge in 500- and 1000-level events and prove I have the ability to establish myself there.”
Chong received a fortunate break to secure her grand slam doubles debut at Roland Garros, after the 30-year-old and Erjavec entered the main draw as alternates following the late withdrawal of Venus Williams and Hailey Baptiste.
They survived a three-set clash with Japan’s Miyu Kato and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico in the first round, then went down to the wire again in a two-hour victory over the American-Australian duo of McNally and Hunter.