In a busy summer of tennis, main draw action is already underway in both Montreal and Toronto.
This is the first of two combined ATP Masters/WTA 1000 events in as many weeks. At a tournament where the ATP and WTA alternate cities each year, the men are playing in Montreal this year, while the women play in Toronto. While some top names are skipping this event after participating in the Paris Olympics, many of the world’s best are present in Canada.
The ATP singles draw in Montreal features seven of the world’s top 10, including World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who is also the defending champion, as well as former champions Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev. The WTA singles draw in Toronto includes only three of the world’s top 10: Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and defending champion Jessica Pegula.
Wednesday’s play is headlined by a former Major champion taking on a three-time Major runner-up, as Naomi Osaka battles Ons Jabeur in Toronto. In Montreal, Canadian No.1 Felix Auger-Aliassime squares off against surging Italian Flavio Cobolli.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent match in both Montreal and Toronto, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule in each city. Wednesday’s play begins at 11:00am local time in both cities.
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Ons Jabeur (9) vs. Naomi Osaka – Second on Centre Court in Toronto
Jabeur is just 16-13 in 2024, as injuries continue to interrupt her career. A knee injury has bothered her since 2023, and just last week in Washington, she withdrew from singles due to a shoulder injury. This is just her third appearance in Canada, where she is 3-2 lifetime, having reached the quarterfinals in 2021.
Osaka holds a nearly identical record on the year of 16-14, as she has struggled to maintain momentum week-to-week after returning from child birth at the beginning of this season. However, she’s shown some strong signs of rediscovering her best tennis, especially at Roland Garros, where she was just a point away from upsetting Iga Swiatek. Naomi is a meager 4-4 in Canada, which is a bit surprising at a hard court event such as this.
They’ve only played once, which was over three-and-a-half years ago in the third round of the Australian Open, and saw Osaka prevail 6-3, 6-2. With Jabeur less than 100%, Osaka is the favorite to win again on Wednesday, especially on a hard court. I expect some strong results from Naomi this summer now that she’s returning to her preferred surface.
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Felix Auger-Aliassime (14) vs. Flavio Cobolli – Not Before 7:00pm on Court Central in Montreal
This is an extremely quick turnaround from the Olympics for Auger-Aliassime, who between three disciplines played 11 matches across seven days. Last Friday, he lost a semifinal to Carlos Alcaraz before winning a bronze medal in mixed doubles later that day. Then on Saturday, Felix lost a bronze medal match to Lorenzo Musetti. Now just four days later, on a different surface and many time zones away, he plays his opening round singles match at his home country’s biggest event, after playing a doubles match on Tuesday. Felix is 25-18 this year in singles, and just 5-5 at this event.
Cobolli started the season ranked 100th in the world, but now sits at a career-high ranking of No.33. The 22-year-old Italian has matched the Canadian’s accumulation of 25 match wins during 2024 at tour level, and was a finalist just a few days ago in Washington. Flavio beat Ben Shelton in the semifinals of that tournament, before losing a three-set final to another American, Sebastian Korda.
This is a rematch from this past February in Acapulco, where Cobolli came from a set down to upset Auger-Aliassime. While Felix’s form has improved since that encounter, so has Flavio’s. Coming off such a strong run a week ago on this same surface, and on this same continent, I favor the Italian to again prevail, in his debut at this event.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Alexander Bublik vs. Ben Shelton (11) – Bublik and Shelton are also doubles partners this week, and won their opening round match over the Wimbledon champions, Heliovaara and Patten. Bublik leads their head-to-head 2-0, having won two three-setters on clay.
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Jessica Pegula (3) vs. Karolina Pliskova – A year ago at this event, Pegula earned back-to-back three-set victories over Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek on her way to the title. Pliskova was the runner-up of this tournament three years ago, losing that final to Camila Giorgi. Pegula is 4-1 against Pliskova, with all five matches taking place during 2021.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play for the ATP is here, and for the WTA is here.
