Alex Eala brushes aside late replacement Emerson Jones to reach Hong Kong Open round of 16

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In a sudden turn of events, Alex Eala had to face a different opponent minutes before her match on Tuesday evening -- originally against Alycia Parks .

But in professional fashion, the Filipina tennis star still took care of business regardless of the opposition across the net.

Eala had a victorious start in her debut outing at the Hong Kong Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over late replacement Emerson Jones in the round of 32 at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium.

Parks had to withdraw from this tournament, which enabled Jones to enter the main draw as a lucky loser. The 18-year-old Australian -- ranked No. 132 in the world -- had previously lost to Alexandra Shubladze 6-4, 6-2, in qualifying.

Eala started showing real aggression from the baseline , stringing together three consecutive games -- behind a break of serve in the second and a pair of comfortable holds -- to take a 3-0 lead.

The second seed looked poised to extend her advantage with another break in the fourth game, but Jones responded by finding her footing on return, breaking Eala in the fifth before holding serve in the sixth and breaking again in the seventh to trim the deficit to 4-3.

Both players' service struggles continued down the stretch, with the two trading breaks in the final three games. However, Eala's early cushion proved decisive as she maintained her advantage to close out the opening set, 6-4.

Looking purely at points won in the first set, Eala edged Jones in the tally, 33-29, reflecting how closely contested the opener was.

Eala carried the great tennis into the second set, with both players initially holding serve through the first three games.

The Filipina then seized control with a break in the fourth game before backing it up with a love hold in the fifth, extending her advantage to 4-1 and putting Jones under pressure on serve once again.

A second break of serve in the sixth game put the Filipina within reach of closing out the set, but Jones refused to go quietly. The Australian capitalized on two double faults from Eala in the seventh game to earn a break of her own, trimming the deficit to 5-2 before holding serve in the eighth to make it 5-3.

But in the ninth game, the world No. 17 would not waste this chance to complete the victory with a hold of serve and move onto the next round.

Up next for the Filipina is a clash against Tereza Valentova of Czech Republic in the round of 16, who has a 2-0 head-to-head advantage against Eala in their past meetings on the WTA Tour.