Jessica Pegula will play Diana Shnaider for a spot in the Canadian Open quarter-finals after the American breezed past Kamilla Rakhimova in straight sets on Thursday. 

Pegula overcame a rain delay in the second set on her way to an impressive 6-4 6-0 win in Toronto, edging closer to a third title at the event and her first since 2024. 

The third seed was, however, put under some early pressure by Rakhimova, who broke in the third game, only for Pegula to return the favour and pull 4-2 clear of her opponent. 

But Rakhimova was able to level things up once more and threatened to force a tie-break, but Pegula rallied to break again to take the lead after saving two game points. 

From there, Pegula took complete control of the match. She reeled off the first four games of the second set with the minimum of fuss before rain halted play for just over an hour. 

Upon her return to the court, Pegula resumed her dominance and booked her place in the last eight against the serve after Rakhimova's forehand slammed into the net. 

Making Her Mark @JPegula secures her 40th win of the season by defeating Rakhimova in straight sets.#NBO26 pic.twitter.com/X1oDxa1jUP

— wta (@WTA) August 6, 2026

Pegula will be joined in the next round by Marta Kostyuk, who eased her way past Madison Keys with a comfortable 6-3 6-1 win in one hour and 25 minutes. 

Kostyuk's reward is an intriguing clash with seventh seed Iga Swiatek, who beat Viktorija Golubic earlier in the day. 

Pegula maintains momentum on Toronto hard courts

Among currently active players, Pegula (20) is the second player after the great Serena Williams to claim 20+ wins at the Canadian Open, and she will be confident of edging closer to her compatriots' tally this time around. 

Pegula is also the player with the most WTA level main draw wins this season, with this her 40th of 2026. In fact, she went level with Aryna Sabalenka (24) for the most WTA level hard court wins this year, though the world number one could pull clear again if she beats Shuai Zhang. 

It is often on this surface that Pegula thrives, too. Since the format's introduction in 2009, only Serena (83) and Venus Williams (68) have claimed more WTA-1000 hard court wins than Pegula (48) after having turned 30 years old. 

Kostyuk, meanwhile, put together back-to-back wins over former grand slam champions for only the second time in her career, while also claiming her 29th WTA level main draw win this season. In an entire calendar year, she only had more in 2024 (34 at the end of the season).