Coleman Wong set to crack tennis top 300 as he comes up short in another ATP Challenger final
- Hong Kong’s 19-year-old tennis star continues rise despite defeat to Australian veteran in Sunday’s Playford final
- Wong, ranked at No 361, will jump a further 67 places after finishing as runner-up in back-to-back Challenger events
Hong Kong tennis star Coleman Wong Chak-lam again fell short in an ATP Challenger final on Sunday. But he showed more glimpses of his potential, with the 19-year-old set to move into the world’s top 300 next week.
Wong, who trains in Barcelona at the Rafa Nadal Academy, lost out on silverware to James Duckworth for the second week in a row, this time on the Australian’s home patch.
Having been thrashed 6-0, 6-1 last Sunday in Shenzhen, Wong made a much better fist of it in Playford, succumbing to a 7-5, 7-5 defeat against the 31-year-old veteran, who is ranked No 125.
Despite some gruelling three-hour battles in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, where he defeated Tristan Schoolkate and world No 100 Taro Daniel in three sets, Wong still gave it his all on Sunday.
He sent down six aces to the Australian’s five and won 73 per cent of points on his first serve, but could only take 1 of his 9 break point chances.
Duckworth was ultimately more clinical, and took down the Hongkonger in 1 hour, 43 minutes to win his 14th Challenger title.
“This is what we call growth!” a tennis fan commented on X, formerly Twitter.
“Miles better than their 52-minute Shenzhen final last week,” another person wrote. “Wong displayed his wild attacking game, but Duckworth’s so fast and uses his rival’s pace against him, unwilling to give up ground.”
Despite his loss in the final, Wong – who is currently ranked at No 361 – is on track to jump another 67 places after his results at the City of Playford Tennis International.
He had already shot up 116 spots on October 23 for a new career-high ATP ranking and will now break yet more new ground.
“Coleman Wong is seriously not being talked about enough,” read another post on X.
