National Bank Open 2026: Olivia Nicholls & Tereza Mihalikova bow out in semi-finals
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British No.1 Olivia Nicholls and Slovakian partner Tereza Mihalikova exited in the semi-finals of the National Bank Open women’s doubles in Toronto.
Nicholls and Mihalikova lost to top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Shuai Zhang 6-1, 7-5 in an hour and 20 minutes.
This was their best performance at a WTA 1000 tournament this year and their first visit to the final four of one of the premier tour events since the Wuhan Open last year.
The British-Slovakian duo came back from a set down to win their first round against Cristina Bucsa and Eudice Chong, before knocking out reigning US Open champion Erin Routliffe and her partner Aldila Sutjadi in the second round 6-3, 7-5.
Their best result came in the quarter-final with a 7-5, 6-4 win over sixth seeds Elise Mertens and Diana Shaider.
It’s a strong start to the American hard court swing for Nicholls and Mihalikova, coming off a grass court campaign where they won the HSBC Championships WTA 500 title in London.
They have had good success on hard courts in recent history – making the Indian Wells final last year and finishing runners-up in Abu Dhabi earlier this season.
In the live WTA rankings, Nicholls and Mihalikova have jumped three spots to share the world No.25 spot.
The best result in the National Bank Open men’s doubles came from Wimbledon champion and world No.1 Henry Patten and his partner Harri Heliovaara.
The top seeds were beaten by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-4.
With the finals of the National Bank Open to be played later today, attention is turning to the Cincinnati Open, the next combined WTA 1000 and ATP Masters 1000 tournament in the calendar starting on 13 August.
