This will be Serena Williams’ first time playing the Rogers Cup since 2015, and only for the ninth time in her career. This is a tournament Serena has often skipped, but she’s in Canada this year due to her eagerness for match play ahead of the US Open, which starts in just three weeks. She’s joined in Toronto by the balance of the WTA top 10 with the exception of Petra Kvitova, who withdrew due to a forearm injury. But recent Slam champions Ash Barty, Naomi Osaka, and Simona Halep, who is also the defending champion here, are all present.
The ATP event in Montreal will be lacking the presence of both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. They’re taking an extra week to rest after their grueling Wimbledon final of a few weeks ago. But Rafael Nadal headlines a field that contains all the rest of the ATP top 10. Rafa is the defending and four-time champion at this event. He’s joined by Kitzbuhel champ of two days ago Dominic Thiem, 2017 champ Sascha Zverev, and last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Stan Wawrinka vs. Grigor Dimitrov
This will be their fourth meeting since July of last year, with Stan prevailing in all three recent meetings at Majors. Grigor had previously owned a 4-2 edge in their head-to-head before those last three defeats. While Wawrinka has spent the past 18 months steadily rebuilding his ranking after knee surgery, Dimitrov has been losing just as much as winning. Grigor is 19-19 over the last 52 weeks, and is currently playing with almost no confidence. At Wimbledon last month, he let a two-set-to-one lead slip away in the first round with little resistance, taking just four games in the last two sets. Ranked outside the top 50 and seeking match play, he uncharacteristically entered both Atlanta and Los Cabos in the last two weeks, but went just 1-2. And running into a three-time Major winner in the first round of this Masters 1,000 event is a rough draw for a wayward Grigor. There is nothing to indicate anything other than a Wawrinka victory.
Anett Kontaveit (16) vs. Maria Sharapova (WC)
With only 11 matches played so far this year, Sharapova finds herself ranked 82nd in the world. A shoulder injury forced her to miss nearly six months of action in 2019. And this has historically been a difficult event for the 32-year-old, who is just 11-6 lifetime in Canada, and has only once been beyond the third round. She needed a wild card just to get into this draw, and she faces a top 20 player in her opening round Sharapova took their only previous meeting, though that was two years ago on clay. And Kontaveit is a much-improved player since 2017, with a steady game that is much less error-prone than Sharapova’s. While Maria remains one of the sport’s strongest fighters, this will be an uphill climb for a veteran who has been plagued with injuries and lacks match play.
Other notable matches on Monday:
Canadian No.1 Milos Raonic (17) vs. Lucas Pouille. Raonic won their first three matches, but Pouille took their Australian Open quarterfinal earlier this year.
In a battle of two top 30 players, 20 year-old Sofia Kenin, already twice a champion this year, vs. Wimbledon doubles champion Su-Wei Hsieh.
