National Bank Open 2026: Sabalenka, Pegula Fall as Swiatek, Jodar, and Fils Seize Their Moment

The National Bank Open 2026 changed shape again on Saturday as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and two-time champion Jessica Pegula were eliminated in Toronto, Iga Swiatek recovered from a disastrous opening set, and Montreal produced another wave of breakthrough performances led by Rafael Jodar, Arthur Fils and Brandon Nakashima.

Saturday, August 8 was the opening half of the round of 16 across the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal and the WTA 1000 event in Toronto, and by the time the final matches finished, several of the names expected to dominate the closing stages were gone.

Ekaterina Alexandrova delivered the biggest result of the day by defeating Sabalenka 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4. Diana Shnaider removed defending two-time National Bank Open champion Pegula 6-3, 6-3, while Swiatek recovered from losing the opening set against Marta Kostyuk to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Elina Svitolina completed Toronto’s quarterfinal lineup from the top half with a controlled 6-2, 6-4 victory over Amanda Anisimova. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Montreal offered a different version of the same theme. Nineteen-year-old Rafael Jodar continued his extraordinary North American run by sweeping aside eighth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3. Arthur Fils defeated Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-6(8), Brandon Nakashima survived Arthur Rinderknech and a lengthy rain interruption 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5, while Luciano Darderi fought back to defeat Nuno Borges 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

The results extend a trend that has defined the tournament from its opening week: reputations are offering very little protection.

The Sports Encounter’s previous National Bank Open 2026 wrap-up documented the departures of several leading contenders and the emergence of Alexandra Eala, Leylah Fernandez and Joao Fonseca. Saturday pushed that shift considerably further.

National Bank Open 2026 Saturday Results at a Glance

Event	Winner	Opponent	Score
Toronto WTA R16	Iga Swiatek	Marta Kostyuk	3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Toronto WTA R16	Diana Shnaider	Jessica Pegula	6-3, 6-3
Toronto WTA R16	Ekaterina Alexandrova	Aryna Sabalenka	7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4
Toronto WTA R16	Elina Svitolina	Amanda Anisimova	6-2, 6-4
Montreal ATP R16	Luciano Darderi	Nuno Borges	4-6, 6-3, 7-5
Montreal ATP R16	Brandon Nakashima	Arthur Rinderknech	7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5
Montreal ATP R16	Rafael Jodar	Jiri Lehecka	6-3, 6-3
Montreal ATP R16	Arthur Fils	Cameron Norrie	6-2, 7-6(8)

Alexandrova Sends World No. 1 Sabalenka Out of Toronto

The headline result came under the lights at Sobeys Stadium.

Sabalenka entered the fourth round as the No. 1 seed and world No. 1, but Alexandrova again demonstrated why this matchup has consistently been uncomfortable for the Belarusian.

The opening set moved repeatedly between the two players. Both recovered from service breaks before Alexandrova earned another opportunity at 6-5. She failed to serve out the set, but the missed chance did not unsettle her.

In the tiebreak, Alexandrova did not concede a point on serve and took it 7-3. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Sabalenka responded in the second set. Alexandrova had three break opportunities that could have placed the match firmly under her control, but Sabalenka survived and eventually broke in the seventh game before forcing a deciding set.

The third set became the most revealing phase of the match.

Sabalenka broke immediately, yet Alexandrova answered with four straight games to lead 4-1. The world No. 1 recovered once more, pulling back to 4-4, but Alexandrova held her nerve.

Serving to remain in the tournament, Sabalenka saved two match points before double-faulting on the third. The 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 defeat removed the tournament’s top seed and dramatically altered the upper half of the women’s draw. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

What Sabalenka’s Exit Changes

The most interesting consequence is that Toronto no longer has a dominant favorite emerging from this section.

Sabalenka’s elimination follows several days in which higher-ranked players have repeatedly struggled against opponents arriving with sharper form or fewer expectations.

Alexandrova now enters the quarterfinals with the confidence of having beaten the world’s No. 1 player in a three-set match where she had to recover emotionally more than once.

That matters at this stage of a WTA 1000 tournament.

Many upsets come when a favorite has one poor serving set or never finds rhythm. Alexandrova had opportunities disappear, surrendered leads and watched Sabalenka force her way back into the contest. She still closed it.

Shnaider Ends Pegula’s Toronto Run

Jessica Pegula had built one of the strongest modern records at the Canadian tournament.

Diana Shnaider showed little interest in preserving it.

The No. 15 seed defeated Pegula 6-3, 6-3, gaining a measure of revenge for her semifinal defeat to the American at the same venue two years earlier. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

The first set remained relatively controlled until Shnaider found a late break. Her pressure became more consistent in the second.

She broke Pegula for 2-1, immediately lost the advantage, then continued attacking the American’s service games. After missing a love-40 opening, Shnaider responded by winning four straight games late in the match, including two more breaks of serve. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

The result is significant because Pegula entered Toronto as the third seed and one of the competition’s most proven performers.

Fatigue may also become part of the discussion. Saturday’s match was Pegula’s fifth appearance in six days across singles and doubles. The schedule does not excuse the defeat, but it provides relevant context for a player who had already worked through rain interruptions and demanding matches earlier in the week. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Shnaider, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly difficult to treat as a secondary contender.

Her ball striking can overwhelm opponents when she finds timing early, and the straight-sets dismissal of Pegula provides one of the clearest indications yet that she can make a serious run in Toronto.

Swiatek Turns a Terrible Start Into a Statement

Iga Swiatek’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk might have been the day’s most informative performance.

The opening set was chaotic.

Swiatek failed to hold serve in all four of her service games. Seven of the nine games went to the returner, and Kostyuk took the set despite being broken three times herself. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

That type of serving collapse can end a hard-court match quickly.

Swiatek instead reconstructed it.

She finally held serve in the opening game of the second set, broke immediately afterward, and began taking time away from Kostyuk. Another break followed, and Swiatek raced through the set 6-1.

The transformation continued in the decider.

Swiatek broke at the beginning of the third and established a 5-1 lead. Closing the match became complicated. She let a 40-love advantage disappear and had to save two break points before eventually converting her sixth match point. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

The larger takeaway is striking: after failing to hold once in the first set, Swiatek was not broken again during sets two and three.

That ability to solve a problem inside the match makes her increasingly dangerous now that Sabalenka and Pegula are out of her half.

Svitolina Quietly Keeps Winning

Elina Svitolina’s progress has received less attention than some of Toronto’s larger stories, but the Ukrainian is now in the quarterfinals after another efficient performance.

Svitolina defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-4. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

She raced through the opening set in 29 minutes and appeared close to an even more comfortable victory when she held four match points on Anisimova’s serve while leading by two breaks in the second.

Anisimova saved them, then broke to love and reduced the deficit.

Svitolina responded calmly. On her next opportunity to serve for the match, she held to love.

That closing sequence captured why Svitolina remains dangerous in tournament tennis. Momentum turned briefly, but she did not allow a missed opportunity to become a prolonged collapse.

Toronto’s Top Half Has Been Rewritten

Saturday began with the top half of the women’s draw behaving unusually predictably. Through three rounds, the seedings had held completely, meaning every fourth-round matchup featured the highest-ranked players the draw could have produced. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

By the end of the day, two of its biggest names had disappeared.

Swiatek and Svitolina advanced, but Pegula and Sabalenka were replaced in the quarterfinal picture by Shnaider and Alexandrova.

The quarterfinal path from this half now carries far less certainty than it did 24 hours earlier.

Rafael Jodar’s Rise Is Becoming One of the Stories of the Summer

If Toronto belonged to established contenders being removed, Montreal belonged to younger players forcing their way deeper into the tournament.

Rafael Jodar delivered the clearest example.

The 19-year-old Spaniard defeated eighth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 in only 74 minutes, extending a run that is becoming one of the most striking breakthroughs of the 2026 ATP season. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

Only days earlier, Jodar had reached the final of the Mubadala DC Open before losing to Taylor Fritz.

There was every reason to wonder whether the accumulated workload would catch up with him in Montreal.

Instead, he has kept winning.

Jodar has now reached three consecutive ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals, following similar runs in Madrid and Rome, and his victory over Lehecka improved his record against Top 20 opponents this season. :contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}

The most impressive part of Saturday’s performance was its lack of drama.

Lehecka arrived as the higher-ranked player and a former Masters finalist. Jodar played as though the hierarchy had already changed.

He controlled his service games, built points patiently and repeatedly found ways into Lehecka’s serve. There was none of the visible tension that often accompanies a teenager approaching another career milestone.

Jodar vs Fils Is Exactly the Quarterfinal Montreal Needed

Jodar’s reward is a quarterfinal against Arthur Fils.

Fils defeated Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-6(8), surviving a much tighter second set after dominating the first. :contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}

The Frenchman has battled injury interruptions during his young career, but his Masters 1000 performances have become increasingly consistent. He reached semifinals in Miami and Madrid earlier this season and now has another opportunity to move into the final four. :contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}

The matchup with Jodar carries extra intrigue because they met recently in Washington, where the Spaniard prevailed.

Both players represent the generation beginning to move from promising prospect status into the part of the tour where titles and ranking positions become realistic expectations.

One of them will now reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 in Montreal.

Nakashima Finally Breaks His Masters 1000 Barrier

Brandon Nakashima had reached the round of 16 at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments five times before Saturday.

He had lost all five.

That sequence ended in one of Montreal’s most dramatic matches.

Nakashima defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5 after the decisive set was interrupted by rain at 4-4. The suspension lasted one hour and 46 minutes. :contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}

Rinderknech had chances before the interruption.

The Frenchman held two break points at 3-2 in the final set, but Nakashima survived. When the players returned after the delay, the match accelerated quickly toward its conclusion.

Rinderknech held for 5-4. Nakashima responded, then produced the decisive break before serving out the biggest Masters victory of his career. :contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}

The quality of serving added to the tension. Rinderknech struck 17 aces and Nakashima produced 16, while both players finished with more winners than unforced errors. :contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}

For Nakashima, the quarterfinal place represents more than another win. It removes a barrier that had followed him through five previous attempts at this stage.

Darderi Refuses the Clay-Court Label

Luciano Darderi’s 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Nuno Borges provided another breakthrough.

The Italian reached his 10th ATP Tour quarterfinal of the season, more than any other player at the time of the result, and advanced to his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal on a hard court. :contentReference[oaicite:18]{index=18}

Darderi has built much of his reputation on clay, and most of those quarterfinal appearances have come on his preferred surface.

Montreal is starting to broaden that picture.

Borges served brilliantly early and struck 17 aces in the match. He broke late in the opening set and appeared to have the cleaner hard-court game.

Darderi changed the match by increasing the weight of his forehand and breaking early in the second set. The third became a battle in almost every service game, with break points, deuces and 30-all situations dominating the set. :contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}

Darderi broke for 4-3, surrendered the advantage, then recovered when Borges made costly errors late.

The Italian broke again to close the match 7-5 and earned a quarterfinal against Nakashima. :contentReference[oaicite:20]{index=20}

Montreal’s Open Draw Is Producing Opportunity, Not Inferior Tennis

Much of the discussion around the men’s tournament has focused on who is missing.

Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and other prominent names were eliminated earlier, while Felix Auger-Aliassime withdrew. The Sports Encounter covered that upheaval in its National Bank Open Day 5 analysis. :contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}

Saturday offered a useful correction to the idea that an open draw automatically produces a weaker tournament.

Jodar dismantled a Top 15 opponent. Fils controlled a former Masters champion for most of their match. Nakashima and Rinderknech played three high-quality sets under difficult conditions. Darderi proved his improvement is beginning to travel beyond clay.

The absence of familiar favorites has opened doors, but somebody still has to walk through them.

Saturday’s Toronto Doubles Results

The singles upsets commanded most of the attention, but the women’s doubles draw also moved toward the quarterfinal stage.

Winners	Opponents	Score
Ann Li / Clara Tauson	Ingrid Neel / Giuliana Olmos	4-6, 7-6(3), 11-9
Su-Wei Hsieh / Jelena Ostapenko	Ulrikke Eikeri / Quinn Gleason	6-4, 7-6(1)
Katerina Siniakova / Zhang Shuai	Coco Gauff / Caty McNally	6-0, 6-4
Elise Mertens / Diana Shnaider	Xinyu Jiang / Fang-Hsien Wu	6-3, 6-3
Ellen Perez / Demi Schuurs	Asia Muhammad / Fanny Stollar	6-4, 6-2
Sara Errani / Nicole Melichar-Martinez	Miyu Kato / Liudmila Samsonova	6-2, 6-2
Storm Hunter / Desirae Krawczyk	Hao-Ching Chan / Maya Joint	6-2, 6-2

Li and Tauson survived the most dramatic doubles match of the day, saving two match points in the second set before eventually prevailing 11-9 in the deciding match tiebreak. :contentReference[oaicite:22]{index=22}

Shnaider also completed an impressive double-duty day. After eliminating Pegula 6-3, 6-3 in singles, she partnered Mertens to win by exactly the same score in doubles. :contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}

What Comes Next in Toronto?

The other half of Toronto’s round of 16 takes center stage on Sunday, August 9.

The official WTA order of play confirms four singles matches:

• Liudmila Samsonova vs Elena Rybakina
• Alina Korneeva vs Coco Gauff
• Leylah Fernandez vs Naomi Osaka
• Alexandra Eala vs Belinda Bencic

Those matches carry several major storylines. Rybakina is now the highest seed remaining after Sabalenka and Pegula’s exits. Gauff faces qualifier Korneeva, while Canada’s Fernandez meets Osaka in one of Sunday’s most appealing matchups. Eala, whose rise has become one of the tournament’s major stories, gets another major test against Bencic. :contentReference[oaicite:24]{index=24}

For more on how Eala and Fernandez reached this stage, see The Sports Encounter’s National Bank Open first-week wrap.

What Comes Next in Montreal?

Montreal will also complete the other half of the fourth round on Sunday.

The official ATP schedule lists:

• Tallon Griekspoor vs Daniel Merida
• Learner Tien vs Thiago Agustin Tirante
• Joao Fonseca vs Ben Shelton
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs Jakub Mensik

Fonseca against defending champion Shelton is the standout evening attraction, while the rest of the draw offers another opportunity for a first-time Masters champion or emerging player to move closer to the title. :contentReference[oaicite:25]{index=25}

The Sports Encounter Analysis: Toronto Lost Certainty, Montreal Found a New Generation

Saturday’s two tournaments told different versions of the same story.

Toronto began the day with a top half that had followed the seedings perfectly. It ended with Sabalenka and Pegula eliminated and Shnaider and Alexandrova suddenly holding realistic paths toward the final.

Montreal entered Saturday already stripped of many of its most recognizable favorites. Rather than becoming less interesting, the tournament has given players such as Jodar, Fils, Nakashima and Darderi room to establish themselves at a level where victories can change careers.

Jodar’s development is particularly difficult to ignore.

A week after reaching an ATP 500 final in Washington, the 19-year-old has moved directly into a Masters 1000 quarterfinal without displaying the physical or emotional fatigue that might normally accompany such a demanding schedule.

His next match against Fils should tell us even more.

Swiatek occupies a similarly intriguing position in Toronto for entirely different reasons. Her first set against Kostyuk was poor enough to raise concerns about her serving, yet the next two sets demonstrated how rapidly she can reorganize a match once she understands the problem.

With Sabalenka and Pegula gone, that ability to adjust could become one of the defining advantages of the women’s tournament.

The National Bank Open still has several rounds remaining, but its central theme has become increasingly clear.

The established hierarchy is under pressure, and the players taking advantage are no longer doing so by accident.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Aryna Sabalenka win at the National Bank Open on August 8?

No. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was eliminated by Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 in the Toronto round of 16.

Who beat Jessica Pegula in Toronto?

Diana Shnaider defeated third seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-3 to reach the National Bank Open quarterfinals.

Did Iga Swiatek reach the Toronto quarterfinals?

Yes. Swiatek recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Marta Kostyuk 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Who did Elina Svitolina beat?

Svitolina defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-4.

Did Rafael Jodar win in Montreal?

Yes. Jodar defeated eighth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 and advanced to another ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal.

Who will Rafael Jodar play next?

Jodar will face Arthur Fils, who defeated Cameron Norrie 6-2, 7-6(8).

Did Brandon Nakashima reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal?

Yes. Nakashima defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5 to reach the first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career.

Who will Nakashima play in the quarterfinals?

He will face Luciano Darderi, who defeated Nuno Borges 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Who plays in Toronto on Sunday?

Sunday’s round-of-16 matches include Elena Rybakina against Liudmila Samsonova, Coco Gauff against Alina Korneeva, Leylah Fernandez against Naomi Osaka, and Alexandra Eala against Belinda Bencic.

Who plays in Montreal on Sunday?

Sunday’s men’s round-of-16 schedule includes Tallon Griekspoor against Daniel Merida, Learner Tien against Thiago Agustin Tirante, Joao Fonseca against Ben Shelton, and Botic van de Zandschulp against Jakub Mensik.

Fans can follow official draws, scores and schedules through the National Bank Open presented by Rogers.