TORONTO — The National Bank Open presented by Rogers is starting to feel like a Filipino festival. And, based on Friday’s results, the party is only going to kick up from here.

Following an afternoon session that saw Leylah Fernandez — a Canadian with Filipino roots — score a massive victory over world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, the nighttime action featured Alexandra Eala of the Philippines grinding past unranked American Caty McNally 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in front of a crowd that was so vigorously pro-Eala you would think Sobeys Stadium was home soil for her.

The 21-year-old was clearly touched by the support as she continues a precipitous rise in the tennis world. Eala has now won seven straight matches and 10 of her past 11 dating back to the start of Wimbledon, where she advanced to the quarterfinals. On Monday, she claimed the DC Open — in a final pushed back due to rain — to become the first player from the Philippines to win a tour-level event. On Wednesday, she won her NBO debut, one day before losing a doubles match playing alongside a partner 25 years her senior in Venus Williams.

On Friday, Eala was put to the test by both the pesky McNally and a tender right ankle that required treatment during a medical timeout in the second set. She served for the match up 5-4 in that set, but McNally won three straight games to push it to the distance.

When she earned a second opportunity to close out her opponent, Eala came through, winning the third set 6-4 to send the crowd — with her all the way through a two-hour and 41-minute rollercoaster ride — into one final frenzy.

As for Eala herself, there was no jubilant celebration when McNally’s final attempt went long. Clearly drained by an emotional, drawn-out match, rather than raise an arm in victory, she put a hand over her face and appeared to fight back tears as the enormity of the moment washed over her.

“I think I survived that one,” she said on court. “It was so tough.”

One thing she always had in her corner, of course, was the wall of supporters who nudged her on at every turn. Even before the match, excitement was building as members of the Filipino diaspora filled the grounds. Flags big and small were attached to walls and stuck out of the back of hats, while one food vendor advertised a new Filipino addition to the menu.

The second she was introduced on Centre Court, Eala received a pop so loud it surely pierced whatever noise-cancellation promise the manufacturer of her big headphones promised. When she hit her first warm-up shot, the supporters kicked up again; when she won the first point of the game — a scorching forehand that touched down just inside the line — the Filipino flags whipped all over the house.

Credit McNally, though, for dampening some of the enthusiasm early. After breaking Eala in the first and third games, McNally held serve to go up 3-1.

That’s when the 25^th-ranked player went to work.

After holding in the fifth game, Eala broke McNally on the latter’s next two service games to take a 5-3 advantage. Serving to close out the set at deuce, Eala ripped an ace to take the advantage. The next serve she threw at McNally forced the American to hit long, and the crowd exploded as Eala pocketed the first set.

It appeared she might keep riding the momentum to a two-set win when Eala broke McNally to go up 2-1 in the second. McNally hung tough, though, and wound up evening the match.

Despite the setback, Eala was able to break McNally in the opening game of the third set. From there, the youngster held serve the rest of the way to eke out the victory.

“It’s one of those matches that really could have gone either way,” she said. “I think it was down to details and a little bit of luck.”

With the final point won, Eala could finally let her guard down and give back to the hordes of supporters who were still heartily showing their love.

“These two weeks have been incredible for me,” Eala said. “So many extreme emotions. Someone in the crowd said they wanted to be Filipino for tonight. I don’t know, that stuck with me because I went to a Bad Bunny concert and I felt Puerto Rican for that night. For the Filipino community to also have that impact on other people…the Canadians have been so hospitable to me; they’ve been amazing these past couple of days.”

Yes, right now it feels like everyone has fallen for the new darling of the tennis world.