Alex Eala, Venus Williams bow out of Canadian Open doubles

Philippines’ Alexandra Eala, left, and United States’ Venus Williams bump fists during their doubles match against Japan’s Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova during a National Bank Open tennis match in Toronto on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala and Venus Williams ended their doubles campaign after losing to Liudmila Samsonova and Miyu Kato, 6-4, 6-3, in the Canadian Open Round of 32 in Toronto on Friday.

Eala and Williams, the wild-card pair playing together for only the second time, put up a fight and tied the opening set at 4-4 with a break before Samsonova and Kato found their groove, stringing together six straight games to take control of the match.

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The Filipino-American tandem fell behind 4-0 in the second before winning back-to-back games, including their first break of the set, to pull within 4-2.

Samsonova and Kato broke back to move within a game of victory, but Eala and Williams answered with another break to stay alive at 5-3. The Russian-Japanese duo then served out the match.

Philippines’ Alexandra Eala, right, and United States’ Venus Williams try for a return during their doubles match against Japan’s Miyu Kato and Liudmila Samsonova during a National Bank Open tennis match in Toronto on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

While the center-court crowd largely cheered for the Filipino tennis star and the American legend, Samsonova said she and Kato enjoyed the atmosphere.

“So we had a lot of fun. It was a really great atmosphere tonight. It’s always great to play in such a big court,” Samsonova said.

“I enjoy playing with Miyu a lot because she’s such a good girl, first of all, and I feel no pressure with her, honestly.”

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The loss marked Williams’ exit in her Toronto return after she also dropped her singles match against Kamilla Rakhimova in the Round of 128 last Monday.

Eala, meanwhile, returns to center court on Saturday morning (Philippine time) to face Caty McNally in the third round of singles.

Eala opened her National Bank Open campaign with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Alycia Parks, extending the winning streak she built during her title run at the Mubadala DC Open earlier this week.