ALEXANDRA Eala defeated American Alycia Parks, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, to kick off her campaign at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada.
She is now 1-1 against Parks, who beat her 0–6, 6–3, 6–2, in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.
The 21-year-old Filipina will next face American Caty McNally, who shocked No. 6 seed Czech Linda Noskova, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Eala is coming off a title victory at Mubadala DC Open, which lifted her to a career-best No. 20 in the WTA singles rankings.
The 5-foot-9 Filipina controlled the match from the outset and never allowed the 6-foot-1 Parks to impose her game. Rather than engaging in a power struggle, Eala opted for a more measured approach — keeping the ball in play, stretching rallies, and waiting for her opponent to blink.
Parks struck four aces in the opening set, yet Eala effectively diffused that threat by breaking serve twice and taking full advantage of the American’s 18 unforced errors. Eala needed just 31 minutes to claim the first set, 6-1.
Parks, however, bounced back just as she had in their meeting in Melbourne.
She opened the second set with four aces to hold serve and traded games with Eala until the score reached 4-4. At that juncture, Parks secured her first break of the match and subsequently served out the set, leveling the contest at one set apiece.
Eala came out firing in the decider, breaking Parks straightaway to reclaim the upper hand. Though Parks clawed back from 0-2 to even things at 2-2, Eala refused to surrender control.
A fourth break of serve — this one putting Eala ahead 3-2 — proved to be the turning point. That swing shifted the momentum decisively, and Eala closed out the match by taking the final three games, wrapping up the victory in just under two hours.
Meanwhile, top seed Aryna Sabalenka downed Japanese Uchijima, 6-3, 6-3, to advance against China’s Zhang Shuai, who was leading 6-0, 4-0, when No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko retired.
Other winners were No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina over Daria Kasatkina, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; No. 3 Jessica Pegula over Magdalena Frech, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; No. 4 Coco Gauff over qualifier Kayla Day, 6-2, 7-5; and No. 5 Mirra Andreeva over Karolina Pliskova, 6-0, 6-2.
Joining them in the third round were 11th seed Japanese Naomi Osaka, No. 12 Belinda Bencic, No. 13 Iva Jovic, No. 28 Ann Li, No. 29 Maria Sakkari, No. 30 Leylah Fernandez.
In other matches, Taylor Townsend eliminated No. 21 Marie Bouzkova, 7-6 (4), 7-5; Liudmila Samsonova ousted No. 22 Barbora Krejcikova, 6-1, 7-5; and Alina Korneeva stunned No. 23 Emma Navarro, 6-2, 6-2. / PNA
