In the singles finals, we’ll see two of the best of all-time try to stave off surging young newcomers. Serena Williams will play for her first title in over two-and-a-half years, but Canada’s new teen sensation stands in her way. And Rafael Nadal vies to defend a hard court title for the first time in his entire career, but the new Russian No.1, who is also the hottest player in the US Open Series, stands in his way. In a rare occurrence, both singles finals at an event of this magnitude will feature first-time meetings.
Rafael Nadal (1) vs. Daniil Medvedev (8)
Nadal got the benefit of a Monfils retirement in the semifinals. And Medvedev is yet to drop a set this week, so both men should have full tanks for this one. Daniil has been on a tear over the last 12 months, with 62 match wins. This is his seventh final during that time, and he owns a 3-3 record in the six previous championship matches. Medvedev has been playing so well this summer, with the only two sets he’s dropped in the past two weeks coming in last week’s Washington final at the hands of Nick Kyrgios. He has the kind of big game that can bother Nadal, with a strong serve and penetrating groundstrokes. But this will be the biggest final of his career, against an 18-time Major champion. I just fear his game might shrink a bit under these circumstances. Daniil does not come off as the type of player who craves the spotlight. And Nadal will be eager to cushion his ranking points lead over Roger Federer. A loss today would leave him only 85 points ahead of Roger in the race for the second seed at the US Open, and there’s plenty of speculation that Nadal will against skip the Masters 1,000 event next week in Cincinnati as he did last year. All things considered, I like Rafa’s chances to defend his title in a tight three-setter.
Serena Williams vs. Bianca Andreescu
As Tumaini Carayol highlighted on Twitter, Bianca Andreescu is now on a 40-4 run at all levels, a run which started last November when she was ranked 178th in the world. Prior to this week, the highlight of her season was in Indian Wells, where she took out four top 20 players in a shocking title win. In the coming four months, she would only complete four matches due to a shoulder injury. But accordingly to Bianca, this week’s run at her country’s biggest tournament means even more to her than her Indian Wells title. Prior to yesterday’s stellar semifinal against Sofia Kenin, she won four consecutive three-setters, which included two wins over top 5 opposition. It’s not often nowadays that a crowd is thoroughly against Serena Williams, but they certainly will be today. But I don’t think Serena will let that bother her: she’s been all business this week in Toronto. She fell behind early in three of her four matches, but quickly recovered to win rather comfortably in each case. However, in her fourth final since her life-threatening child birth, will the memories of her last three losses in finals impact her play? While I’m sure they’ll be prevalent in her mind, she’ll feel less pressure since this is not a Grand Slam event. The bigger factor today will be her opponent, as the 19-year-old Andreescu has quickly shown herself to be one of the sports’ fiercest competitors. She does not have any big holes in her game, and it doesn’t seem like she’ll be overwhelmed by this occasion, or her opponent. And despite the tape on her leg, Andreescu appears to still be quicker around the court than Serena. Also remember this: Bianca is 6-0 against top 10 players. I’ve bet against Andreescu throughout her run this week, and she’s continually proved me wrong, so I’m going with Bianca to pull off another thrilling upset in front of an electric Canadian crowd.
Other notable matches on Sunday:
In the women’s doubles final, two-time Major champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (1) vs. Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs (3). This is a rematch from Wimbledon last month, when Krejcikova and Siniakova prevailed in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s doubles final, the Dutch team of Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof vs. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. As Dutch writer Ilan Woolley pointed out on Twitter, this is Koolhof’s seventh doubles final of the year, though he’s yet to win one.
