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 kept her momentum rolling at the Canadian Open, defeating Caty McNally in three sets to reach the round of 16 in Toronto and stretch her winning streak to seven matches.

The world No. 20 arrived in Canada after claiming her first WTA Tour title at last week’s Washington DC Open. She opened her campaign at this WTA 1000 event with another three-set win, this time over Alycia Parks, before again being pushed the distance by McNally. Eala eventually closed out a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 result to arrange a meeting with 12th seed Belinda Bencic.

After the match, Eala said she was not surprised by the physical and emotional toll of the past two weeks, describing the stretch as demanding. She explained that McNally made the contest difficult and that she had to stay focused on what she could control.

Q: Alex, what a win tonight. An amazing atmosphere out there. It was a really hard-fought battle against a great opponent. Can you just give us your keys to the match today?

ALEX EALA: “Thanks for waiting, guys. I think it was a really tough match today for many reasons. One being also that Caty is such a big fighter. I think she’s got definitely some good weapons and, yeah, it was a tight one.”

She also reflected on the challenge of the last fortnight, saying the matches have brought different tests each time and that she has felt the strain of everything that has come with the run. Even so, she said she was proud of how she handled herself on court.

Eala was asked about a brief ankle issue in the second set. She said she rolled it after a forehand, called the physio, and was relieved to learn there was nothing serious. She added that her team would help her recover as she looks ahead to the next round.

Her comments on Bencic were clear as well. Eala said she was “super excited” to face her for the first time and noted Bencic’s accomplishments in tennis, including an Olympic medal she remembered watching.

With another hard-earned win, Eala now turns to a fresh challenge in Toronto, carrying both confidence and fatigue into her next match.