Leylah Fernandez, Belinda Bencic, Alex Eala’s prize money from Hong Kong Open
The top two seeds won’t contest the final of the 2025 Hong Kong Open, but Belinda Bencic and Leylah Fernandez still went home with a handy prize cheque.
Both were high on confidence before the WTA 250 tournament as top Bencic started her campaign on the back of winning the Pan Pacific Open title while Fernandez was crowned Japan Open champion just over a fortnight ago.
Bencic won her opening two matches in straight sets, but was then forced to withdraw from her quarter-final clash against Cristina Busca due to a thigh injury while Fernandez’s run was ended by fellow Canadian Victoria Mboko in the semi-final.
Rising star Alex Eala had endured a poor Asia swing and she won her first WTA Tour-level match since the US Open when she advanced to the second round as Katie Boulter retired with the Filipina leading 6-4, 2-1. She then lost against third seed Mboko in three sets in the round of 16.
So while Mboko and Busca will contest the final, Bencic, Fernandez and Eala’s ranking points and prize money have already been determined.
WTA Ranking Points Earned
Bencic had surged up to No 11 on the back of her Tokyo title and she had a chance to return to the top 10, but her last-eight exit meant she earned only 22 points and moved to 3,168 points in the Live Rankings with Ekaterina Alexandrova on 3,375 in 10th place.
The Hong Kong Open was the Swiss’ final WTA event of the 2025 season and she has enjoyed an incredible campaign.
The former world No 4 was at No 421 in January after spending most of 2023 on the sidelines after giving her to her first child, a girl named Bella, in April.
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Fernandez started the tournament on 1,821 points and she will stay on that tally as she earned 98 points for reaching the semi-final, but she had the same amount to defend from 12 months ago.
The 2021 US Open – who will finish the year as the Canadian No 1 with Mboko currently at No 18 in the Live Rankings – stays at No 22.
Eala – who reached the semi-finals of the Miami Open in March – earned 12 points after winning her first-round matches and she has moved up one place, which is enough for her to break into the top 50 of the rankings for the first time, finishing at No 50.
WTA Prize Money Earned
Having earned $164,000 for her title run at the Pan Pacific Open last week, Bencic added another $6,815 to her tally after reaching the quarter-final in Hong Kong.
The Swiss started the tournament with $14,849,529 so her hopes of cracking the $15m mark will have to wait until the 2026 WTA Tour season.
Fernandez has earned $7,294,700 so far during her career and she earned another $11,970 for reaching the semi-final while Eala added $4,470 to her career earnings after winning one match.
Eala has earned $1,358,545 since turning professional in 2020 with the bulk of that $902,637 coming during the 2025 season.
