FILIPINO tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala faces Swiss Belinda Bencic in her quarterfinal bid at the WTA 1000 National Bank Open at the Sobeys Stadium Centre Court in Toronto Sunday night, Monday morning in Manila.
The fourth round (round of 16) match starts around 8:30 a.m. with Filipino fans expected to fill the 12,500-seater arena anew.
Recovery is key for Eala as she plays her eighth match in 13 days dating back to her Washington conquest, especially after a grueling 2-hour and 39-minute third-round battle against Caty McNally last Saturday.
Eala defeated McNally, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, but she tweaked her right ankle in the second set where she labored a bit but pushed through to advance and win her seventh consecutive match.
World No. 20 Eala said the ankle tweak is not a serious concern and expressed excitement to play No. 14 Bencic, a 10-time champ and Tokyo Games Olympic gold medalist.
Eala is seeded No. 25 in the tournament while Bencic is No. 12.
"Oh, super excited. It's going to be the first time that I'm facing her (Bencic)," said Eala in the post-match presser.
"Of course Belinda is, I mean, she has accomplished so much in tennis. Of course, I remember watching her win the Olympic medal, so I think I'm really excited to be on court again, yeah."
Eala touched on how she's holding up after playing seven matches in 11 days and will play her eighth in 13 days on Monday.
"I needed to push a lot. I'm as tired as one can be at this stage. You can imagine, a lot of matches. But, you know, that's the job," said Eala.
"I'm ready. I'm excited for another match. I'm going to do my best to recover and, you know, start again from zero."
Like Eala, Bencic gutted a 3-set win against Taylor Townsend in their fourth-round clash, 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-4.
The winner between Eala and Bencic will face either Coco Gauff or Alina Korneeva in the quarterfinals. Filipino fans came in droves to support Eala, filling up the 12,500-seater Sobeys Stadium.
One fan managed to stand out in Eala's last two matches: the guy wearing an inflatable blue dinosaur costume while using the Philippine flag as a cape.
The superfan certainly turned heads, especially when cameras captured the "blue dinosaur" dancing during Eala's court introduction for her third-round match against McNally.
"You know, today I didn't see him in the crowd. I knew, I know he was there. People told me he was there. But, wow, what a legend," said Eala in the post-match presser, answering if she spotted the superfan in her third-round match.
"Like, it was so funny when I first saw him the first night. Amazing. I think it was just, I don't know, it was like such a light, funny spin to kind of, like, how people support me. It just comes out in very unique ways, and I think his really stood out."
Eala spotted the dinosaur fan in her second-round match against Alycia Parks, even posting it on her Instagram story on Friday.
“Thanks to this legend for holding down the fort," Eala captioned her story.
