Aryna Sabalenka's difficult summer stretch showed no signs of letting up at the National Bank Open in Toronto, where the world No. 1 was eliminated in the last 16 by Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in a dramatic three-set contest lasting nearly two and a half hours.
Alexandrova claimed victory 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-4, capitalizing on a brutal final moment when Sabalenka double-faulted while trying to stay in the deciding set. The Belarusian had fought back impressively from a set down to force a third, making the finale all the more painful. Alexandrova spoke candidly afterward, noting she believed her window had closed after dropping the second set before ultimately holding her nerve.
This loss extends what has become a concerning pattern for Sabalenka, who has now exited before the semifinals at Wimbledon, the French Open, the Italian Open, and the Madrid Open this season. Her last final appearance came at the Miami Open back in March. Despite these stumbles, she retains the world No. 1 ranking and will head to Cincinnati still ahead of Elena Rybakina, though the gap is narrowing with each passing week.
Elsewhere in the draw, third seed Jessica Pegula suffered a first career defeat to Diana Shnaider, and Iga Swiatek recovered from a turbulent first set against Marta Kostyuk to advance to the semifinals.
In Montreal, Britain's Cameron Norrie could not build on his stunning win over Alex de Minaur, falling to French 18th seed Arthur Fils 6-2 7-6 (8) in one hour and 43 minutes. Norrie saved three match points to force a tiebreak but could not convert his own set-point opportunities before Fils closed it out.
TennisDraw users had Sabalenka penciled deep into the bracket, making her third-round exit one of the bigger upsets on the app this week.
