Alex Eala said she was unsure what had happened when she rolled her ankle during her third-round match against Caty McNally at the Canadian Open, but the injury did not prevent her from moving into the fourth round.

The world No. 20 led by a set and a break in the second set when she asked for the physio to treat her right ankle. McNally responded immediately, breaking to love in the next game to level the set. After both players held serve, the momentum shifted again as they exchanged more breaks, before the American broke to love in game 12 to take the set and force a decider.

There were clear concerns that Eala might be limited physically, yet she opened the final set with a break and later served out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory.

In her post-match press conference, the 21-year-old explained the incident without suggesting any major issue. She said: “I kind of rolled my ankle in that second set. Like, I hit the forehand and I landed kind of wrong. I called the physio.

“I think I was a little, I was like, Oh, I don’t know what happened, because it happened so fast. But luckily, there’s nothing wrong with it, and it was no serious problems.

“But, I mean, yeah, today was physically, it pushed me a lot. I have a lot of matches in the bag. But that goes for good and bad. I think this is also a learning process. We’re athletes. So that kind of physical is, you know, it’s like a huge part of our job.

“I think I have a great team who is going to help me recover, and I have high hopes for the rest of the tournament.”

Eala enters the remainder of the event with confidence after winning her maiden title by defeating Jessica Pegula in the rain-delayed Washington DC Open final on Monday. She has now played seven matches in two weeks, five in Washington and two in Montreal, and said she is beginning to “feel the effects”.

“I think this match was really challenging for me. I think the whole two weeks, I guess, have been very challenging. Each match that I’ve played has presented its unique set of challenges,” Eala said.

“Today, obviously it was really close. I think, you know, like, I’m really, of course I’m feeling the effects of just everything.

“I think I’m really doing my best, like I said on court, to stay professional and stick to what I know. But everything, of course, like, these past two weeks I’ve been feeling emotions so extremely because of the circumstances, which is a great thing.

“I think I’m quite a sentimental person. But at the same time it’s just kind of like finding that balance. So, I think I’m really proud of how I handled today, and what I did on court.”

Eala will not play again until Sunday, when she meets 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the round of 16.

Iga Swiatek goes into the 2026 Cincinnati Open as the defending champion, but the field around her looks different from a year ago. Jasmine Paolini, last year’s finalist, will not be in the draw, while Swiatek must protect the points she collected in 2025 to avoid a slide from the top 10 of the WTA Rankings.

The WTA uses a rolling 52-week system, so points earned 12 months earlier fall off when the event begins and are replaced by whatever a player earns this year. That makes the Cincinnati week especially important for several leading names, and this season the timing adds another layer. Because the tournament is being held a week later, players are also defending results from last year’s WTA 1000 event and from Monterrey and Cleveland, which were staged during the week of 18 August.

For Swiatek, the task is clear. She earned the full 1,000 points last year, but her current form leaves her little margin for error. She sits on 4,539 points in the Live Rankings and remains active at the Canadian Open, where a title would lift her to 5,419 points and ease some of the pressure. If she exits early in Toronto and then also falls quickly in Cincinnati, a place outside the top 10 becomes a real possibility.

Jasmine Paolini will not defend her 650 points because she is sidelined by a knee injury. Elena Rybakina, beaten by Swiatek in last year’s semi-final, has 390 points to protect, although she is holding her sixth-best combined WTA 1000 result since it is higher than Cincinnati. Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff each have 215 points to defend, with Sabalenka still able to shape the battle at the top and Gauff positioned to close in with a strong run.

Linda Noskova is defending 118 points across Cincinnati and Monterrey, Karolina Muchova has 65 points at stake, and Naomi Osaka plus Alex Eala will not lose anything because they did not play last year.

Alex Eala is still early in her career, but she is already within reach of a significant prize money milestone.

The Filipina has been one of tennis’ most closely followed emerging names since her breakthrough week at the Miami Open last year, and her rise has gathered pace over the last few weeks.

Her progress has been built on a strong sequence of results. In June, Eala won the Birmingham Open on grass, then produced her best Grand Slam showing so far by reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon. Along the way, she defeated defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.

She then carried that form into Washington, where she won her first WTA Tour title. The run to the trophy featured victories over Olympic champion Wang Xinyu, defending Washington champion Leylah Fernandez, Elina Svitolina and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka before she beat Jessica Pegula in the final.

The title in Washington earned her $252,000, pushing her career prize money to $2,901,015. Eala is now set to move beyond the $3 million mark soon, and if she maintains this level, she could climb quickly on the all-time prize money list.

Her growing profile is also expected to bring major sponsorship opportunities, as she continues to establish herself as one of the leading names on the WTA Tour.

Eala’s impact has not gone unnoticed. Former US Open champion Andy Roddick has been among those offering strong praise.

“She’s not scared to play the top players. There’s no doubt,” Roddick said on his Served podcast.

“And I mean, she’s sneaky — we’re talking four spots away from being seeded in the top 16. That’s the next goal for her.

“Can we put up a couple of results in Canada and Cincinnati and sneak inside that top 16 where a fourth round is expected and not a surprise to anyone. Massive, massive props to her, she’s so much fun.

“Everyone in tennis should be cheering for her, right? And you [could] say, like, ‘don’t pick favourites, don’t cheer for her’, sure… I’m cheering for markets,” said the American.

“If we could bring hundreds of millions of people because she’s playing, well, then I’m going to cheer for that because it’s better for tennis.

“I know some people might bristle and be like, ‘listen, she hasn’t won a Slam. What are we doing?’ No, but she’s literally carrying hundreds of millions of fans to our sport and saying, you’re die-hards now. This is great for the sport.

“It doesn’t mean you like her more than… I love Jessica Pegula. All I’m saying is that I want to see Eala consistently do well because of what an impact she will have on the game if she does that.

“Not all impacts are the same with players. Eala winning a Slam is more than someone else winning a Slam. That’s just the way it works. We’re lucky in tennis to have her. We should continue to support the story.

“And listen, none of this s*** happens and no one cares if she’s not winning stuff. So, this is great.”