On Tuesday, Serena Williams announced her retirement from the sport in a poignant essay. With only a month left before one of the greatest players of all-time retires, Serena will play only her third match in the past 14 months on Wednesday, as she faces fellow Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic.
In Montreal, the two ATP singles champions from last week will collide, as Los Cabos champ and world No.1 Daniil Medvedev takes on Washington champ and Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios.
Those are just two of a plethora of high-profile second round matches on Wednesday. Overall seven of the WTA top 10 and six of the ATP top 10 will be in action in a jam-packed day of tennis.
Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Wednesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time in both Toronto and Montreal.
Daniil Medvedev (1) vs. Nick Kyrgios – Not Before 1:00pm on Court Central in Montreal
Medvedev did not drop a set during his title run last week in Mexico, and is the defending champion of this event. But Kyrgios is having the best summer of his career. He’s now claimed 12 of his last 13 matches, which of course includes his first Major singles final at Wimbledon. And Nick is 2-1 against Daniil, though they’ve split two hard court meetings. Three years ago in the final of Washington, Kyrgios prevailed thanks to two tiebreaks. But at this year’s Australian Open, Medvedev was victorious in four. Last year at this tournament, Daniil defeated a few other big servers such as Hubi Hurkacz, John Isner, and Reilly Opelka. On Wednesday, his defensive skills may again prove to diffuse Nick’s serving prowess. And as seen in the Wimbledon final, Kyrgios can get easily frustrated by opponents who can play elite-level defense.
Belinda Bencic (12) vs. Serena Williams – Not Before 7:00pm on Centre Court on Toronto
These next few weeks will be the last in perhaps the most remarkable career in tennis history. Serena has said she does not want a lot of fanfare surrounding her last tournaments, but fans will surely be clamoring to see the all-time great one last time. In just her third match this year, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in women’s singles faces the most recent gold medalist. Bencic is now 28-13 this season, and two of her best results this season have come in the US. She was a semifinalist in Miami, and the champion in Charleston. Serena is 2-1 against Belinda, though Bencic’s only victory occurred in this same city seven years ago, when the Swiss star won this title as an 18-year-old. Williams played some good tennis during her straight-set victory on Monday, and both players will assumedly be quite nervous knowing this is one of Serena’s final matches. But considering Williams has not defeated a top 20 player since the 2021 Australian Open, Bencic should be favored on this day. Regardless, this opportunity to watch Serena compete will be cherished by her millions of fans.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Ajla Tomljanovic – Swiatek is now 48-5 on the year, and has won her last three hard court tournaments dating back to February (Doha, Indian Wells, Miami). Tomljanovic reached her second consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal last month. Their only previous meeting also occurred in Toronto, when three years ago the Australian retired after only five games.
Elena Rybakina vs. Coco Gauff (10) – The new Wimbledon champion played for a full three hours on Tuesday, eventually defeating Marie Bouzkova 6-1 in the third. On the same day, Gauff dropped only four games to fellow American Madison Brengle.
Tommy Paul vs. Carlos Alcaraz – Alcaraz is now 42-7 in 2022, and is coming off back-to-back finals at clay events in Europe. Paul has accumulated 25 wins of his own this season, 16 of which have come on hard courts.
Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Leylah Fernandez (13) – Fernandez gritted her way to a three-set victory on Monday night in her first match since injuring her foot at Roland Garros. Haddad Maia has 34 wins on the year, and won back-to-back grass court tournaments in June. Earlier this season in the semifinals of Monterrey, Leylah prevailed over Beatriz in straight sets.
Qinwen Zheng vs. Ons Jabeur (5) – Jabeur went 1-1 last week in her first two matches since her losing effort in the Wimbledon final. Qinwen also lost to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon, after two tight sets in the third round of that event.
Bianca Andreescu vs. Alize Cornet – Andreescu overcame injury to defeat San Jose champion Daria Kasatkina on Tuesday evening, requiring multiple medical timeouts in the first set alone. Earlier in the day, Cornet took out Caroline Garcia in three sets. Alize is 2-0 against Bianca.
Yoshihito Nishioka (SE) vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) – Nishioka was a surprise finalist last week in Washington, where he earned impressive victories over five top 40 players, including Andrey Rublev. Auger-Aliassime has now lost four of his last six matches. Yoshi leads their tour-level head-to-head 2-1, which includes a dramatic three-set win three years ago at Indian Wells in a third-set tiebreak.
Jack Draper (Q) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) – Tsitsipas has not played since his embarrassing behavior in a third-round defeat at the hands of Kyrgios at Wimbledon. 20-year-old Draper has earned 35 match wins at all levels this season.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play is here.
