By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Players from the Philippines and Hong Kong will be on the schedule for the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time this week, as the U.S. Open sees the impact of an increasingly global game.
Alexandra Eala beat 14th seed Clara Tauson to secure the Philippines’ first major match win on Sunday while qualifier Coleman Wong carried the flag for Hong Kong when he beat Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4 7-5 7-6(4) on Monday.
Renata Zarazua added to the global appeal as she became the first Mexican player to beat a top-10 opponent at Flushing Meadows with a stunning upset over sixth seed Madison Keys.
A day prior, Janice Tjen earned Indonesia’s first victory in a Grand Slam main draw in 22 years when she knocked out 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova.
While it is still early days in the notoriously gruelling final major of the year, players say it is a sign of progress in a sport where only a handful of countries were once represented on the world stage.
“Tennis is becoming a bit more popular, more global,” said Zarazua, who looked up to the Williams sisters when she was younger, with few Mexican mega-stars in her sport.
“They’re also doing a great job in the slams and in other tournaments to kind of promote them pretty well.”
The 20-year-old Eala, who got the world’s attention with a run to the Miami semi-final this year, got a leg up from the majors as a four-time recipient of funding from the Grand Slam Player Development Programme.
Launched by the four majors and the ITF nearly three decades ago, the programme focuses its efforts on bringing more competitive opportunities to players from developing tennis nations.
“As a person, I’m very ambitious. Although there was no one from my country who did this before or was successful in tennis, I took inspiration from anyone I could,” said Eala.
Other recipients of the grant programme this year included Brazil’s Joao Fonseca, a fan favourite who broke through this year when he became the youngest Brazilian player to win an ATP title in February.
The 19-year-old won in three sets in his U.S. Open debut on Monday against Miomir Kecmanovic in front of a raucous crowd at the Grandstand, sticking around to sign autographs long after the match ended.
For 23-year-old Tjen, those massive New York crowds provide a chance at bringing in the next generation behind her.
“Hopefully like this, by me making an appearance here will help, will inspire more tennis players,” she told reporters. “Believing that, like, they can be here too.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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