Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, has been eliminated from the fourth round at the 2026 National Bank Open in Toronto. On Saturday, Sabalenka, the 28-year-old from Minsk, Belarus, was defeated 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, by the 16th seed, Ekaterina Alexandrova of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
This was the second straight tournament that Sabalenka lost in the round of 16. She was beaten in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 by Naomi Osaka of Japan in the fourth round of Wimbledon.
One key reason why Alexandrova got the victory is because she saw Sabalenka’s serve very well. Alexandrova had 15 break point opportunities throughout the match and broke Sabalenka’s serve six times.
This was actually the fifth time in 10 matches that Alexandrova beat Sabalenka. Alexandrova’s four other times she beat Sabalenka came in the 2017 final of Shenzhen (6-2, 7-5), the quarterfinals of Moscow in 2021 (6-3, 6-4), the final of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2022 (7-5, 6-0), and the second round of Doha in 2025 (3-6, 6-3, 7-6).
Alexandrova will next play Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, in the quarterfinals. Svitolina, the ninth seed, has won three of four meetings head-to-head. However, Alexandrova won the last match, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round of Berlin in 2021.
The other three women’s quarterfinal matches in Toronto will be Iga Swiatek of Poland versus Diana Shnaider of Russia, Osaka versus Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, and Coco Gauff of the United States versus Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. The four men’s quarterfinal matches in Montreal will be Arthur Fils of France versus Rafael Jodar of Spain, Luciano Darderi of Italy versus Brandon Nakashima of the United States, Ben Shelton of the United States (the defending champion) versus Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic and Learner Tien of the United States versus Daniel Merida Aguilar of Spain. Clearly, there is a lot more star power in the women’s quarterfinals than the men’s quarterfinals.
