Who is Belinda Bencic? Alex Eala's Round of 16 foe at Canadian Open

Higher stakes will be on the line when Alex Eala returns to Centre Court of the WTA1000 Canadian Open as she takes on Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16.

The 21-year-old Filipina will plunge back into action after surviving Caty McNally in the previous round, with a quarterfinal berth on the line against higher-ranked and higher-seeded Bencic.

Bencic, a 29-year-old ace from Switzerland, is currently seated at No. 14 in the WTA rankings and has risen to a career-high No. 4 back in February 2020 before she went on winning an Olympic gold medal the following year.

In the Tokyo Olympics, Bencic had a stellar run after ousting Jessica Pegula in the opening round and then eliminating Misaki Doi and Barbora Krejcikova in the next two rounds. She then had to escape Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals and Elena Rybakina in the semifinals.

She faced Marketa Vondrousova in the finals and had to dig deep en route to a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory, lifting her first Summer Games gold medal.

Bencic stepped away from tennis for some time to give birth to her first child, Bella, in April 2024, before returning to competitive action six months later. It did not take long for the Swiss star to rediscover her form, climbing from No. 1213 to No. 11 in just a year, from November 2024 to November 2025.

In that span, Bencic won a pair of titles in Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open and reached the semifinals of the 2025 Wimbledon against eventual champion Iga Swiatek.

Like Eala, Bencic also earned a first-round bye in the ongoing Canadian Open before ousting Americans Sloane Stephens and Taylor Townsend in the Round of 64 and Round of 32, respectively.

Bencic, who reached the quarterfinals in two of her last four tournaments, now stands between Eala and the last eight, with the Swiss star looking to snap the Filipina's career-best seven-match winning streak.

—JKC, GMA News