Toronto: Alexandra Eala survived a challenging match against American Caty McNally, securing a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory to advance to the fourth round of the WTA1000 National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada. This victory on Saturday (PH time) sets the stage for the 21-year-old Filipino to face 12th seed Swiss Belinda Bencic, who had a tough win over American Taylor Townsend, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4.

According to Philippines News Agency, Eala, who recently achieved her career-best No. 20 in the WTA singles ranking after her triumph at the Mubadala DC Open last week, previously defeated American Alycia Parks with a scoreline of 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the second round. The tournament continues to showcase high-level tennis with top players vying for the title.

In other matches, top seed Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus overcame Shuai Zhang of China, 6-3, 6-4, to face 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, who defeated Talia Gibson of Australia, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. No. 2 Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan won against Ann Li of the US, 6-2, 7-5, setting up a fourth-round match with Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, who outplayed Maya Joint of the US, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-2.

Other successful players advancing to the fourth round include No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the US, who beat Kamilla Rakhimova of Russia, 6-4, 6-0, and No. 4 Coco Gauff of the US, who overcame Maria Sakkari of Greece, 6-1, 6-4. Additionally, No. 7 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 10 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, No. 11 Naomi Osaka of Japan, and No. 30 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada also progressed to the next round.