World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was ousted by 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round of the WTA Toronto Masters on August 8, 2026. Alexandrova won 7-6(7-3), 4-6, 6-4 in a match lasting two hours and 29 minutes [1, 2, 3].
Sabalenka entered the match as the defending US Open champion, having won the title twice consecutively before this tournament [1, 3]. She broke early to lead 2-0 in the first set, but lost momentum as the set proceeded to a tiebreak. Alexandrova secured the first set tiebreak 7-3 by winning five of the last six points [1, 3].
Sabalenka rallied to take the second set 6-4, forcing a decisive third set. However, in the final set she made several unforced errors and was broken multiple times, ultimately losing 4-6 [1, 4, 3]. Sabalenka saved two match points at 4-5 in the final set before double-faulting on the third, which ended the match [1, 5, 6].
The result evened their career WTA rivalry at 5-5 [1, 2]. Alexandrova said she approached the match by taking risks and playing each point as if it was her last. "I just tried to play every single point as if it was the last one because with her, you don't [get] a lot of chances during the match," she said [5]. She added she tried not to think about the score and focused on hitting the ball, expressing happiness to win after thinking her chance was gone following the second set [6]. Alexandrova acknowledged the difficulty of the match and tried to take risks that led to both mistakes and opportunities [1].
Sabalenka had a challenging summer, including quarterfinal exits at the French Open and a round of 16 exit at Wimbledon leading up to Toronto [5]. Alexandrova will next face ninth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals [1, 7].
Sabalenka is scheduled to defend her US Open title at Flushing Meadows from August 30 to September 13, 2026 [1, 3].
