Alex Eala battles Olympian Belinda Bencic for Toronto quarterfinals spot

Alexandra Eala will face an Olympic gold medalist for the second time in two weeks, when she battles Belinda Bencic for a place in the National Bank Open quarterfinals in Toronto.

Organizers have scheduled their round of 16 match for Sunday night, which will be around 8 a.m. Monday morning, August 10 in the Philippines.

“To play in front of you guys, it’s amazing,” Eala told the crowd late on Friday night, August 7, after she defeated the American Caty McNally in a tough, three-set match that included a medical timeout.

“The motivation to come here and play another match…everything just becomes so much more emotional, guys.”

Alex Eala’s fighting spirit

Eala had Saturday off to rest and recover. She has played two three-set matches so far in Toronto, a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event. She needed a medical timeout to get her right ankle and foot strapped in the second set of her match against McNally.

If she prevails against the higher-ranked Bencic, it would be her eighth straight win in a stellar hard-court season so far. She is currently No. 20 in the world and already has a confirmed place in the U.S. Open Grand Slam later this month.

One of the top players who did not advance past the round of 16 was WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who lost in a three-set thriller to Ekaterina Alexandrova, who is currently ranked No. 19.

WTA No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American player, also lost in the round of 16 to Diana Shnaider.

Bencic, who was then 23, won a gold medal in singles and a silver in doubles (with Viktoria Golubic) in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She is now 29 and currently WTA No. 14.

Up next: Possibly Coco Gauff in QF

Eala, 21, defeated 2024 Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng in three sets last July 28 in her opening match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, which the Filipina eventually won.

The winner of their match will advance to the quarterfinals and face either Alina Korneeva or Coco Gauff.

By reaching the round of 16, both players are guaranteed at least $81,800 (about ₱4.97 million) in prize money.

Bencic dropped the first set against Taylor Townsend but prevailed. She defeated Sloane Stephens in straight sets before that, and like Eala, had a bye in the first round.

Alex Eala, Belinda Bencic had a strong 2025 season

Here’s something Eala and Bencic have in common: a phenomenal season in 2025.

Eala began that year as the WTA No. 143 but ended it within the top 50.

For Bencic, 2025 her first full year back in competition after maternity leave.

She began it ranked No. 421 but finished it at No. 11, the WTA website reported. She won two WTA 500 titles last year, in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo, and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Another accomplishment the two share is defeating higher-ranked Top 10 players.

Eala has defeated at least five Top 10 players so far this year. Two of them, No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 9 Elina Svitolina, lost to her in the final and quarterfinal rounds, respectively, in Washington DC. Naomi Osaka was WTA No. 13 when she lost to Eala in the semifinals in Washington DC.

Bencic, for her part, defeated Top 5 players six times in 2019, including three wins over Osaka, who was then world No. 1.

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