Hong Kong International Tennis Challenge puts extra tickets on sale with cap on crowds relaxed
- First round of tickets sold out in 24 hours, but Victoria Park Tennis Centre can now operate at full capacity as government further eases restrictions
- Two-time junior grand slam winner Coleman Wong takes on world No 14 this weekend in his first major test against a top-20 ranked opponent
An extra 1,600 tickets for this weekend’s Hong Kong International Tennis Challenge went up for grabs on Wednesday, with officials confident they would sell out fast.
It has been 20 years since Hong Kong hosted a top-level men’s tennis tournament and demand for tickets has been strong to say the least.
While the first round of tickets for the three-day event sold out in 24 hours, Tuesday’s announcement that the 85 per cent capacity cap on crowds would be relaxed by the government amid further easing of Covid-19 restrictions means the Victoria Park Tennis Centre can now operate at full capacity.
“We are excited,” Hong Kong Tennis Association president Philip Mok said. “This announcement has come at the right time for our event.
“Demand has been overwhelming and now more fans can have the chance to enjoy the action in person.”
While three-time grand slam winner Stanislas Wawrinka may top the bill, the star attraction for local fans will be a chance to see local sensation Coleman Wong Chak-lam on the opening night on Friday.
The 18-year-old will compete on home turf for the first time since 2019. Much, of course, has changed for him since then, and he faces a tough test in the form of world No 14 Cameron Norrie – his first crack at a top 20-ranked opponent.
Wong made history in January by following up his victory in the 2021 US Open boys’ doubles with a second junior major title at the Australian Open, becoming the city’s first two-time grand slam winner. He will be looking to replicate some of that magic come the weekend in Victoria Park.
“Excited and slightly nervous,” Wong, who trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Barcelona, wrote in a social media post of his feelings before boarding his flight from Switzerland to Hong Kong.
But a round of applause from the Cathay Pacific aircrew quickly calmed those nerves. “It made me want to do my best,” he added.
The 27-year-old Norrie, Britain’s No 1-ranked player, arrives in Hong Kong having defeated Croatia’s Borna Coric in the fifth-place playoff at last week’s Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
That followed quarter-final finishes at the Eugene Korea Open Tennis Championships in September and a similar result at the Stockholm Open in October.
“I think I’m playing quite well,” Norrie told the media in Abu Dhabi. “I took a couple of weeks to reset, didn’t really leave my couch. I’d been travelling the whole year so it was really nice. I started strong in Saudi last week and I’ve just been building and building.”
Tennis fans in Hong Kong will also have the chance to see if China’s top player Wu Yibing can recreate some of the magic that propelled him to the third round of this year’s US Open.
Wu, winner of the US Open junior crown in 2017, defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges to set up a third-round showdown with former world No 1 Daniil Medvedev and become the first man from China to reach the third round of any grand slam tournament since 1946.
Wu takes on Swiss star Wawrinka in Friday’s opening match in Victoria Park.
World No 9 Taylor Fritz and No 10 Hubert Hurkacz will both receive byes into the semi-finals. Losers in the quarter-final and semi-final matches will battle it out for fifth- and third- place finishes, with the grand final taking place on Christmas Day.
