Eala and Sun will cross paths in the second round if both win their respective ties.

Fresh from her quarter-final loss in her debut at the Pan Pacific Open on Friday, Eala said she had “high motivation” to finish her breakthrough season, which included winning her maiden WTA title in Washington in August, with a bang in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Open will be the final tournament of the season for the Philippines star after her 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat by Russian No 3 seed Diana Shnaider in Tokyo.

The 21-year-old from Quezon City will be among the favourites for the title in Causeway Bay, and she said she was not in the mood to look back on her achievements this season just yet.

“I’m super excited, and I’m going in with high motivation,” she said. “I’m trying to put my reflections off for one more week because of said motivation. Check back in a week.”

Sun has been playing some of her best tennis recently in her young career. She reached the third round at the China Open in Beijing earlier this month in what was her first WTA1000 event.

The 16-year-old Guangdong native also made it to the Guangzhou Open semi-finals, where she lost to Harriet Dart of Great Britain after going one set up on Saturday.

Playing on home soil, Sun won the first set 7-5. The teenager missed the chance to win the match as Dart evened the score, winning the second set 7-6. Things then went downhill as world No 405 Sun lost the deciding set 6-0.

Another Chinese player, Wang Xinyu, was also in the bottom half of the draw, and the No 6 seed will take on Adithya Karunaratne, who was born in Sri Lanka but is representing Hong Kong.

The 24-year-old is the city’s only representative for the home event after Cody Wong Hong-yi, Shek Cheuk-ying and Vienna Lai Ching-laam all lost in the qualifying round.

In the upper half of the draw, Sorana Cirstea was promoted to the tournament’s top seed after 2024 champion Shnaider, who reached the Pan Pacific Open final and will face Leylah Fernandez on Sunday, opted to withdraw from the Hong Kong tournament.

Cirstea will play Maria Timofeeva in the first round, with a potential tie against veteran Williams in the second.

Tournament third seed Fernandez was drawn against Sofia Kenin of the United States, while eighth seed Katie Boulter, who was thrashed by Shnaider in the final two years ago, plays Viktorija Golubic.

Separately, Hong Kong tennis star Coleman Wong Chak-lam stormed into the ATP Challenger final in Seoul after beating qualifier Omar Jasika in straight sets in one hour and 26 minutes.

Tournament third seed Wong dominated the opening set thanks to his brilliant return of serve, breaking his Australian opponent twice.

In a slightly closer second set, Wong, who added two more breaks while also conceding one, continued to dominate Jasika, winning a much higher percentage of second serve points, before sealing a 6-2, 7-5 win in less than 90 minutes on the court.

The Seoul Open final on Sunday will be Wong’s eighth Challenger final, with his only win coming in Jiujiang in China in May, when he edged Adam Walton of Australia 7-5, 7-6 to become the first Hongkonger to ever win an ATP title.

Currently ranked world No 87, the 22-year-old will face Terence Atmane for another crack at a title after the No 4 seed from France overpowered Billy Harris 6-3, 6-1 in the second semi-final.

Wong has never played Atmane before, and the 24-year-old from Saint-Martin-Boulogne, who is seeking his career maiden title, is ranked only three places below the Hongkonger in the world rankings.