MANILA – Filipino tennis star Alex Eala ended her campaign at the Canadian Open after bowing to Swiss No. 12 Belinda Bencic, 4-6, 0-6, Monday in Toronto.
Bencic, who won the tournament in 2015, advanced to the quarterfinals where she will meet American No. 4 Coco Gauff, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Alina Korneeva.
Eala, who reached a career-best No. 20 in the WTA singles ranking after winning the Mubadala DC Open last week, defeated Americans Alycia Parks, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, and Cathy Mcnally, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, to reach the fourth round.
Meanwhile, top seed and third seed Jessica Pegula also exited the WTA 1000 event.
The world’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a defeat to 19th seed Ekaterina Alexandreva, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 4-6, while Pegula lost to 15th seed Diana Shnaider, 3-6, 3-6.
Alexandreva will next face Ukrainian No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina, who ousted American No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova, 6-2, 6-4.
Shnaider, on the other hand, will meet Polish No. 7 Iga Swiatek, who prevailed over Ukrainian No. 10 Marta Kostyuk, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Second seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan survived Liudmila Samsonova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to advance against Japanese No. 11 Naomi Osaka, who pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Canadian No. 30 Leylah Fernandez. (PNA)
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