The 2025 edition of the HKFC Football Club Open got under way today in Happy Valley, with sixteen first round matches of the PSA Silver level event.
Action took place of two of HKFC’s all-glass courts, and there was home interest in nine of today’s matches – including HK national champions Lee Ka Yi (it’s her birthday today) and HKFC favourite Alex Lau.
Quick roundup below the results …
Women’s Round One :
[9/16] Lucy Turmel (Eng) 3-2 Hannah Craig (Irl) 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 11-8 (47m)
[9/16] Nardine Garas (Egy) 3-1 Haya Ali (Egy) 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 (29m)
[916] Lee Ka Yi (Hkg) 3-1 Alicia Mead (Eng) 12-10, 10-12, 11-2, 11-7 (35m)
Habiba Hani (Egy) 3-0 [9/16] Tong Tsz-Wing (Hkg) 11-6, 11-5, 11-7 (27m)
[wc] Toby Tse (Hkg) 3-2 [9/16] Nour Heikal (Egy) 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 16-14, 11-3 (46m)
[9/16] Hana Ramadan (Egy) 3-1 [wc] Helen Tang (Hkg) 11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-5 (36m)
[9/16] Tomato Ho (Hkg) 3-2 Marta Dominguez (Esp) 2-11, 11-13, 11-4, 11-9, 11-1 (57m)
Chan Sin Yuk (Hkg) 3-2 [9/16] Aira Azman (Mas) 6-11, 11-9, 11-4, 3-11, 11-9 (47m)
Men’s Round One :
Ryunosukue Tsukue (Jpn) 3-2 [9/16] Baptiste Masotti (Fra) 11-5, 7-11, 10-12, 11-2, 11-2 (40m)
[wc] Matthew Lai (Hkg) 3-0 [9/16] Auguste Dussourd (Fra) 11-4, 11-4, 11-9 (32m)
[9/16] Dimitri Steinmann (Sui) 3-0 Patrick Rooney (Eng) 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 (41m)
[9/16] Juan Vargas (Col) 3-0 [wc] Leo Chung (Hkg) 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (30m)
[9/16] Greg Lobban (Sco) 3-0 Balazs Farkas (Hun) 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 (24m)
[9/16] Kareem El Torkey (Egy) 3-0 Yahya Elnawasany (Egy) 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (34m)
[9/16] Declan James (Eng) 3-2 Raphael Kandra (Ger) 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5 (68m)
[9/16] Leonel Cardenas (Mex) 3-1 Alex Lau (Hkg) 13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7 (59m)
“Simmy” rounds off a great opening day for Hong Kong …
In the final match of the day, Chan Sin Yuk made it a hat-trick of five-game wins for Hong Kong’s women, following in the steps of Tomato Ho and Toby Tse.
9/16 seed Ho was the first to make it through, recovering from a two game deficit to deny Spain’s Marta Dominguez an upset win. Dominguez squeezed home in the second, but looked tired as Ho raced through the third to start the comeback. The fourth was close, but the Spaniard was spent in the decider as Ho romped home 11-1.
“Last time I played her was in the World Games,” Tomato explained, “and I lost three-nil. When I was two-nil down I just told myself I’m not going to lose again, not on my home courts.”
Wildcard Tse took on Egypt’s Nour Heikal, and they traded the first four games with some brutal rallies and plenty of crowd involvement on both sides. The fourth was crucial with Tse recovering from a mid game deficit and saving four match balls on the way to a 16-14 win. That broke the resistance of the Egyptian as Tse took the decider 11-3.
Chan – known as “Simmy” – earned her spot in the draw due to some late withdrawals, and played out a see-saw match with Malaysia’s Aifa Azman. The first four games were shared, both having dominant wins. Early in the decider Azman needed a treatment break after being clipped on the head by Chan’s racket, but she was quickly back into battle mode on the resumption. The Hong Kong player always had a slight edge and raised her hands in relief and celebration as she took the victory 11-9.
“I’m excited for the next match now,” said a delighted Simmy. “I haven’t been able to play in this tournament in the past years because I was either studying in the US or my ranking was too low. So many people came out to support me today I was really excited to get the win and hopefully another one tomorrow.”
Elsewhere in the women’s draw HK champion Lee Ka Yi celebrated her birthday with a four-game win over England’s Alicia Mead but there was to be no HK clean sweep as Tong Tsz-Wing and wildcard Helen Tang went out to Egyptians Habiba Hani and Hana Ramadan.
“I was pleased with how I responded after the first two games,” said Lee, ” tried to change my game, to mix up the pace and try to give myself more time.”
On court at the same time as Chan in the last men’s match of the day, home club favourite Alex Lau couldn’t perform his usual heroics as he lost four close games to Mexico’s Leonel Cardenas.
The two HK wildcards had mixed fortunes as Matthew Lai dominated Frenchman Auguste Dussourd in straight games but Leo Chung fell to an equally comprehensive defeat at the hands of Colombia’s Juan Vargas.
The only other men’s upset saw Japan’s Ryunusukue Tsukue – another late addition – beat France’s Baptiste Masotti in five, taking the last two games for the loss of two points each, although England’s Declan James was stretched to the limit to see off the challenge of Germany’s Raphael Kandra in five often brutal games.
Today’s winners take on the top eight seeds in Round Two, again on two courts starting at 13.00
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