Eudice Chong and En-Shuo Liang are the doubles champions of the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open. They beat Filipino-American Sabrina Santamaria and Quinn Gleason in the final, 2-6, 7-6(2), 10-6. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The duo of Eudice Chong of Hong Kong and En-Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei leaned on their familiarity to make history as the first Philippine Women's Open doubles champions.
The pair rallied back from a huge deficit in the second set to run away with the victory over Filipino-American Sabrina Santamaria and Quinn Gleason, 2-6, 7-6(2), 10-6 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center on Friday.
After winning the first set, Santamaria and Gleason were in the driver's seat, leading by three games in the second set, 2-5.
But Chong and Liang did not back down, winning four straight games and eventually forcing a tiebreak at 6-all.
During the tiebreak, the Asian pair surged to a 5-1 lead, not allowing Santamaria and Gleason to get close with the final score of 7-2.
In the third set tiebreak, Chong and Liang zoomed to a 6-1 scoreline, before the American duo sparked a late rally to cut the lead to 6-8.
The Asian tandem reached match point after their opponents were unable to hold serve.
In the end, Santamaria failed to return the hit in what would be the final rally to complete the comeback, 10-6.
"I think in the beginning of the match, the first set and second set, we were still trying to find our rhythm. I think we were slow to react. And I think we were trying to just make our opponents play a lot of balls. And we slowly found our way back," Chong said.
The Hong Kong native said the match point of the American pair in the second set was the "turning point" for them.
But for Chong and Liang, the biggest key to their success was their chemistry and familiarity.
"I think the most important thing, like En-Shou said, is that we enjoy each other's company. We're good friends off the court as well, so I think that makes a huge difference. When things are tough on court, we're able to comfort each other and find the solution," Chong said.
"Sometimes with partnerships now, everyone just kind of plays with a new person every week. So I think it's tough to really form a partnership. Because we've been playing with each other since September last year, we're able to find balance," she added.
This marks the pair's third WTA Challenger title in doubles, since they first competed together in September 2025.
The Asian duo said they are honored to be the winners of the inaugural tournament.
"We are really happy to be the first winner of doubles in this tournament. I really enjoyed my time here, it's a very good tournament for me. I hope this tournament will be bigger and bigger like 250, 500 one day," Liang said.
"This tournament helped us dig a little deeper, understand a little more where our level is and try to play some bigger tournaments," the Hong Kong native added.
Chong and Liang will compete at the WTA 250 Transylvania Open, set for February 1-7 in Romania.
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