NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 8, 2026

Ekaterina Alexandrova

Press Conference

E. ALEXANDROVA/A. Sabalenka

7-6, 4-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Ekaterina, you have a pretty strong record with her head-to-head, but it's never easy to play a world No. 1. Can you talk about how you pushed through and how you competed with her today.

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: Well, I knew it's going to be difficult match. I didn't have any expectations beside that.

I just went on the court, and I was trying to play as aggressive as I could, even if that cost me a lot of, you know, like unforced mistakes.

I think it helped me a lot because it was helping to create some kind of opportunities in some moments.

Overall, I was playing just, like, every single ball, no matter what the score was. I wasn't trying to think, you know, that if it was my, like, the only chance or, like, what's going to happen next. So, no matter what the score was, I was just trying to play the same thing.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can you speak to your 2026 season and what a win like this tonight does for your confidence going forward, not just in this tournament, but the rest of the season.

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: Well, it means a lot because this year it was quite difficult for me. Especially after the last season, what was really good. Maybe the expectations from the last year and, like, they didn't help me.

There's some difficulties with the equipment, with the racquet, and was a lot going on on the court, and it wasn't helping. In some moments I was really struggling on the court.

A win like this, it helps, you know, so much to gain some kind of confidence that you're doing the right thing, and maybe like that you are on the right path, that everything you're doing is working, so you just need to continue doing the same thing.

Q. I know you spoke about just trying to play your game, just be aggressive. Were there any things that you saw maybe in her game, any vulnerabilities that you were actively trying to exploit as far as like a strategy for this match?

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: I was trying to play more aggressive on the return because, I don't know, for me it felt like her serve, it's such a big weapon of hers.

If I would be able to create some pressure on the return, especially on the first one, it will create some kind of tension on the court, and it will help me, you know, to get extra few seconds, maybe less, you know, just to play the ball faster, so that she doesn't have that much time after the serve.

Sometimes it was really working, but of course it cost me a lot of errors the same way. But I think that helped me a lot because on my serve I was just trying, you know, just to get the ball in and just start the point. But on her serve I was just trying to be super aggressive.

Q. Talking about just the switch back to hard court. The season obviously, clay, grass, how excited were you to be back on the hard courts, and do you find it to be a sharp adjustment going from grass to hard?

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: For me, I'm super excited for this part of the year because I prefer the hard court over any surface. Sometimes on the grass, it's kind of fun, you know, to play and everything. I still prefer the hard court.

For me this part of the season I enjoy it so much because we have so many amazing tournaments and, you know, it's great to be back on the hard court. I'm just super excited.

Q. Aryna Sabalenka is a world No. 1. What's the hardest part about facing her? What makes her so difficult to play?

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: I think, I mean, she has every aspect of the game, I think, in a very high level.

She has an amazing serve, return. She can make amazing shots from both sides, the forehand and the backhand. She can play the dropshot and the volley. So basically she can do anything.

You need to be prepared for that, that, like, that there's not going to be, like, some easy points or easy shots. So every point you play, you need to be super focused and super prepared for anything. Because even when you make a good shot and you expect something easier for you just to finish the point, maybe it's not the case with her because she can play it like, you know, like even better shot from your good shot. I think that's the difficulty to playing against her.

Also, she also is good with the switching, like, timing and the rhythm. Because like today I didn't feel any particular rhythm. Sometimes it was super fast, sometimes it was slower, sometimes it was with the spin. It's really hard to readjust for this type of game.

Q. What were you thinking when she hit that second serve ace on your first match point?

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: I was like, no way she's going to do this. Because it was an unbelievable serve for the second serve.

It was, I don't know, it was like super kick, with a super spin. I mean, I expected it to be, you know, a good serve, so I didn't wait for like some, you know, like, easy serve just to hit the ball. I expected that, but I didn't expect it to be that good (laughing). I'm like, Oh, my God, but there's nothing I can do about it. So just, you know, like refocus and next point.

Q. You mentioned earlier how it hasn't been the best season for you. Were you confident coming into Toronto that your best tennis was on the way, or did you kind of, did this form kind of come more as like a surprise?

EKATERINA ALEXANDROVA: I don't know if it's like it was like a surprise. I was some kind of like, you know, in between.

I had some good matches before on the tournaments, but I also had also like not so good matches. I think I was somewhere like in the middle.

So it felt like I'm starting to get some kind of form, or just like starting to feel some kind of, like, you know, having some kind of feeling on the court that I'm doing the right thing.

It was kind of like, I don't know, like so-so. It's kind of there, but like you're not sure.

I didn't have any expectation, honestly, before the start of the tournament. I was trying, you know, to just to play every match that I could, because you never know, this could be the one.

I was trying to do my maximum every single match, and every single match seems like very different here for me. I'm glad, you know, that I could manage to get through these matches.

But, honestly, I didn't have any expectations before the start of the tournament. I'm still, I think, kind of in the middle of the way of finding like the really good form.