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.

Flavio Cobolli completed a remarkable week in Acapulco with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Frances Tiafoe to lift the ATP 500 trophy. The straight-sets scoreline belies a hard-fought encounter that lasted two hours and nine minutes, with the opening set alone running 70 minutes.

The win is Cobolli’s third ATP title and matches the biggest level of his previous triumphs. His first two tour-level trophies came last year, both on clay: Bucharest, an ATP 250, and Hamburg, an ATP 500. With the rankings update on Monday, he is projected to move from No. 20 to a new career-high of No. 15, surpassing his prior peak of No. 17.

Both finalists had dramatic semifinal nights. Cobolli rallied from 3-1 down in the deciding set to beat Miomir Kecmanovic, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. Tiafoe survived an all-American duel with Brandon Nakashima, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, after Nakashima served for the match at 6-5 in the second set and then came within two points of victory at 6-all in the tiebreak.

In the final Tiafoe threatened early, holding a 3-1 advantage in the first-set tiebreak before Cobolli edged the set. Tiafoe rallied again in the second, breaking back to level at 4-all, but Cobolli closed the match by winning eight of the final 10 points, breaking for 5-4 and sealing the title with an ace, his 10th of the match.

The result also carries historical notes. At 23, Cobolli is the youngest champion in Acapulco since a 22-year-old Dominic Thiem won in 2016. He is the first Italian to capture an ATP title this year and, as the nation’s No. 3, will join countrymen Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, currently ranked No. 2 and No. 5, in the Top 15.

Frances Tiafoe will contest the Acapulco title after coming from a set down to defeat countryman Brandon Nakashima in a dramatic semifinal, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Nakashima served for the match at 6-5 in the second set and had earlier brought up triple break point at 3-all, plus two match points at 6-all in the second-set tiebreak. Tiafoe persevered in a marathon 71-minute second set, then broke in the opening game of the decider and again for a 5-2 lead. Nakashima recovered one break to close to 5-4, but Tiafoe served out the win on his second try, finishing with a big overhead.

“It’s incredible. The stars are definitely aligning, man, it’s not making sense, anything that happened,” Tiafoe said afterwards.

“Things started to make sense when I was down, obviously I had a couple of net cords there. You know, made every return there at 6-5, but obviously I wasn’t feeling my best. I was just competing and battling, and sometimes you get lucky. Played great tennis in the third—in the third I was the better player.

“Just battling, man. Never say die. I was ready to empty the tank.”

The win puts Tiafoe into the 11th ATP final of his career and offers a chance at the biggest title of his career. His three ATP titles to date all came at the ATP 250 level: Delray Beach in 2018 and Houston and Stuttgart in 2023. He has reached finals at the ATP 500 level or higher three times previously but finished runner-up each time: Vienna in 2021 (ATP 500), Tokyo in 2022 (ATP 500) and Cincinnati in 2024 (Masters 1000).

Awaiting Tiafoe in the Acapulco final will be Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, who rallied from 3-1 down in the third set to beat Miomir Kecmanovic earlier on the day, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. Cobolli will pursue his third ATP title and the equal-biggest of his career, having won an ATP 500 in Hamburg last year.