‘Unstoppable’ Coleman Wong continues rise up ATP rankings as Hong Kong tennis star powers into Australia final
- The 19-year-old beats men’s world No 100 Taro Daniel at the City of Playford Tennis International to reach fourth consecutive final
- Rafa Nadal Academy player, who trains in Barcelona, has now won 15 of his last 17 matches going into Sunday’s final
Hong Kong tennis star Coleman Wong racked up his third win over a top 100 player in the space of a month as he powered into the final of an ATP Challenger tournament in Australia.
The 19-year-old Wong beat third seed and world No 100 Taro Daniel of Japan in the semi-finals of the City of Playford Tennis International on Saturday, coming from a set down to win 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.
“Another three hours match!” Wong wrote in an Instagram post after his win. “I’m really happy and honoured to be playing against a really good and experienced player, thank you Taro. It’s the final tomorrow, let’s get it!”
The Rafa Nadal Academy player, who trains in Barcelona, has now won 15 of his last 17 matches, and is through to a fourth consecutive final at ATP Challenger and ITF level.
“Simply unstoppable,” the official ATP Challenger Tour account posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
After shooting up 116 places to a career high of 361 this month, Wong is set to rise further in the ATP rankings, having also beaten No 64 Thanasi Kokkinakis in the round of 16.
Wong has shown plenty of fight Down Under, coming back from 5-3 and 0-30 down in the third set to win 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 against Tristan Schoolkate after more than three hours on court in the quarterfinals.
He will next play world No 125 James Duckworth on Sunday, in a rematch of last week’s Shenzhen Challenger final, which was won 6-0, 6-1 by the Australian.
Wong won an ITF event in Hong Kong last month before the Asian Games, and was runner-up in Qatar on October 8.
“Part of the reason we host these tournaments is to give opportunities through wild cards to our local players,” Philip Mok Kwan-yat told the Post after the return of Hong Kong’s WTA event following a five-year break in October.
“Now we actually have a player who can play at this level. I’m not saying that he’s going to win, but he will be competitive.
“At the very least, it will be very much inspiring for Coleman to be able to compete in an ATP tournament and hopefully that will give him the impetus to boost his ranking.”
