Round three of the singles competition at the National Bank Open began on Thursday at Sobeys Stadium.
Two Grand Slam champions and a two-time NBO champion featured in singles on the Centre Court. With just 32 players left in the draw, seeds started clashing on Thursday, with three seed-vs-seed matchups on Grandstand.
The doubles competition also began on Thursday and was be in the spotlight as the highly-anticipated partnership of Alexandra Eala and Venus Williams featured in the night session on Centre.
CENTRE COURT – starts at 12:30 PM[7] Iga Swiatek (POL) d. Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-2, 6-1For a brief moment, it looked like Swiatek might be in for a tough day at the office when she played a horrendous opening game on serve to gift Golubic a quick break. She woke up after that, though, breaking right back to kick off a run of four straight games to turn that early deficit into a 4-1 lead. Golubic held to briefly slow down the six-time major champion but Swiatek then won the next seven games in a row to take the first set and go up 5-0 in the second. While she did not manage a bagel for the second match in a row after Golubic held to get on the board, Swiatek settled for the breadstick to wrap up the win in just 67 minutes.[3] Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Kamilla Rakhimova (UZB) Perhaps the rain delay that struck between the warm-up and the start of the match bothered Pegula, as she was broken in her second service game. The two-time champ bounced right back, though, responding in the following game to get back on serve. The pair exchanged breaks again midway through the set before Pegula grabbed the decisive break when Rakhimova served to stay in it. Set two was all Pegula as she broke in the Uzbekistani’s first two service games. Five points from a Pegula victory when she was serving at 4-0, 40-15, the rain came back and forced the pair back to the locker rooms for over an hour. When they returned, the American won five of the next six points to finish off the win.
Not before 7:00 PM
[1] Aryna Sabalenka d. Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-3, 6-3On a day when top seeds struggled early on serve on Centre Court, the world No. 1 fared a bit better, saving the break point she faced in her opening service game. She would not face another until serving for the match. Zhang did a good job of hanging with Sabalenka and not giving the top seed many chances. However, when Sabalenka got a look, she was ruthless. She converted two of three break-point opportunities, one in each set, and never dropped serve.Miyu Kato (JPN) / Liudmila Samsonova d. [WC] Alexandra Eala (PHI) / Venus Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-4Kato and Samsonova took the crowd right out of it at the start of the match, breaking in the opening game. The pairs settled in to exchanging routine holds until the eighth game, when Eala and Williams managed to break back. It was short-lived, however, as they were broken in the next game and Kato and Samsonova proceeded to serve out the set. Kato and Samsonova then reeled off four straight games to start the second and despite not holding their last two service games, they managed to break two more times to oust the big-name duo in the first round.GRANDSTAND – starts at 11:00 AM[16] Ekaterina Alexandrova d. Talia Gibson (AUS) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3Alexandrova responded brilliantly after getting broken to drop the first set. She needed just half an hour to send the match to a decider, going on an eight-game run, breaking Gibson four times in a row to go up a break in the decider. The Aussie did manage to get back on serve but only briefly, as Alexandrova broke in the eighth game before serving out the match to love.[15] Diana Shnaider d. [17] Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-3Shnaider needed a wake-up call to get going in both sets. In each, she was broken first but responded immediately to get back on serve. She then went on to break midway through each set to grab the lead. The 2024 Toronto semifinalist clung to that one break in the first and broke Kalinskaya to secure the win in set two.[10] Marta Kostyuk (UKR) vs [19] Madison Keys (USA) The match stayed close through its stop-start early stages as rain kept interrupting play. Once the skies cleared, Kostyuk seized control. From 2-2 in the first set, she won 10 of the next 12 games, getting the decisive break in the sixth game of the first set then breaking twice on her way to a 4-0 lead in the second, which ended with a third break of the set.[8] Amanda Anisimova (USA) d. Nikola Bartunkova (CZE) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4This match was all about momentum swings. The first set was all Bartunkova, as the youngster broke twice on her way to a 4-1 lead. She broke a third time to wrap up the set, but Anisimova quickly turned the tables in the second. She converted three of four break-point chances in that set and saved the only one she faced, securing a bagel to send the match to a decider. Twice Bartunkova broke in the third, but each time the American broke right back. Down a break at 3-4, Anisimova turned on the jets one last time. The 2024 Toronto runner-up reeled off the last four games in a row to avoid an upset in her opening match (after having a bye then a walkover in round two). [9] Elina Svitolina (UKR) d. [24] Anastasia Potapova (AUT) 6-1, 6-1With the match starting at 10 pm local, Svitolina had no interest in hanging around long. She broke to start the match and never looked back. She saved all five break points she faced and finished off the win just a minute past the one-hour mark.COURT 1 – starts at 12:30 PM[7] Ellen Perez (AUS) / Demi Schuurs (NED) d. Liudmila Kichenok (UKR) / Maya Lumsden (GBR) 7-5, 6-4One team struggled at the beginning of each set, while the other had a hard time at the end. Perez and Schuurs were the slow starters, getting broken in the opening game both times, but they kept coming back and ended up breaking in the final game of each set to seal it.Coco Gauff (USA) / Caty McNally (USA) d. Ekaterina Alexandrova / Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) 3-6, 6-3, 11-9The rain may have played a factor in this one, as Alexandrova and Dabrowski led by a set and a break before the delay. Upon the restart, they were broken twice while failing to convert six break points in the second set as the match went to a super tiebreak. Gauff and McNally kept rolling, racing out to a 5-1 lead but the veterans clawed their way back, drawing even at 7-all. They had the first match point and 9-8 but failed to convert and when the Americans had their shot, they did not throw it away and completed the comeback.[6] Elise Mertens (BEL) / Diana Shnaider d. [WC] Bianca Jolie Fernandez (CAN) / Leylah Annie Fernandez (CAN) 6-1, 6-2The Fernandez sisters were under pressure right from the start. They managed a hold from love-40 down in their opening service game and had two break points to take the lead in the following game. But they failed to convert and then each sister dropped their next service game, allowing Mertens and Shnaider to take the set. The Canadians had to save break points in the opening game of the second before dropping serve the next time they stepped up to the line. They did not have a break point until the deciding point in the eighth game, at which point they were down a double break and the sixth seeds were serving for the match. The point, and the match, went the way of Mertens and Shnaider. X. Jiang (CHN) / F. Wu (TPE) d. Marie Bouzkova (CZE) / Linda Noskova (CZE) 6-4, 0-6, 10-6Jiang and Wu bounced back well after a disastrous second set where they only won five points. They pulled away midway through the match tiebreak, taking consecutive minibreaks to go up 7-3, a lead they never relinquished.COURT 4 – starts at 12:30 PMStorm Hunter (AUS) / Desirae Krawczyk (USA) d. K. Piter (POL) / Janice Tjen (INA) 6-4, 6-0Hunter and Krawczyk had to battle through the first set but found their rhythm in the second. Piter and Tjen only had one game point in the entire second set, which was actually a deciding point in the fourth game that would have recovered a break, as the Aussie-American duo became the first doubles winners at the 2026 National Bank Open.Ann Li (USA) / Clara Tauson (DEN) d. M. Kempen (BEL) / A. Panova 6-2, 7-5Li and Tauson seemed well on their way to the second round up a set and a break when the rain broke their momentum. After the delay, Kempen and Panova rallied from 2-5 down, saving a match point in the process, to draw level at 5-5. They even had a break point to go up 6-5 and serve for the set but Li and Tauson settled down, escaped the game, and then broke to finish off the match in two.[5] S. Hsieh (TPE) / Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) d. Maria Sakkari (GRE) / Donna Vekic (CRO) 6-2, 6-2Hsieh and Ostapenko set the tone with breaks to open each set. In the first, one would have been enough as they saved the only break point they faced on their own serve, although they added a second for good measure. The second was a little trickier as Sakkari and Vekic immediately broke back, but Hsieh and Ostapenko were not to be denied, breaking again right away to reestablish their lead and this time, they did not give it up.H. Chan (TPE) / Maya Joint (AUS) d. [8] S. Aoyama (JPN) / E. Liang (TPE) 6-2, 6-3Chan and Joint were completely dialled in on return, breaking all four times their opponents served in the first set, although they themselves were broken twice. They managed six consecutive breaks before Aoyama and Liang finally held in the sixth game of the second set. It made little difference, though, as Chan and Joint broke again in the next game, making it six breaks in seven return games for a routine win.
The WTA’s best return to Toronto for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers Aug 1 to 13 at Sobeys Stadium. Get your tickets today!
Feature Photo : Morgan Givens/Wick Photography for National Bank Open