Two weeks ago at the Tokyo Olympics, Stefanos Tsitsipas was a set away from the quarterfinals, when Ugo Humbert stormed back to take the second set in a tiebreak. On set point of that tiebreak, Tsitsipas injured his leg, and while he played on, he lost the third set decisively. That was the latest in a series of heartbreaking losses for Stefanos, starting with his five-set loss to Novak Djokovic in the final of Roland Garros.
Six weeks ago in Eastbourne, Coco Gauff came back from a set down to even her match with Anastasija Sevastova, only to decisively lose the third set 6-2. On that day, Gauff’s game completely fell apart in the third. She was broken twice, struck five double faults, and missed nearly half of her first serves. Coco would go on to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon, before contracting COVID-19, which forced her to miss the Olympics. This will be her first singles match since recovering.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing men’s and women’s matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Coco Gauff (15) vs. Anastasija Sevastova – 11:00am on Centre Court in Montreal
The Eastbourne match was the third time these players have met in the past year. All three times they’ve gone three sets, yet all three times Sevastova has prevailed. The other two matches took place on North American hard courts: last summer at the US Open, and this past March in Miami. Sevastova is a 31-year-old Latvian who excels on hard courts at this time of year. She reached the quarterfinals or better of the US Open three straight years between 2016-2018, and was a quarterfinalist in Montreal three years ago. Gauff has certainly been the better of the two players of late, but she cannot figure out how to overcome the tricky, tenacious play of Sevastova in a third set. And having just recuperated from COVID, it would unfair to expect Coco to be at her best on Tuesday. Sevastova is the favorite to gain her fourth win over the 17-year-old American.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) vs. Ugo Humbert – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court in Toronto
Like Gauff, Tsitsipas is still looking for his first win over his opponent on Tuesday. Aside from their Olympic affair, Humbert also got the best of Tsitsipas at last November’s Paris Masters, in an extremely tight match decided by three tiebreaks. Those two hard court victories make the 23-year-old Frenchman a slight favorite to prevail again, especially considering Stefanos’ struggles since the French Open. In July, he went just 3-3, and notably played three tournaments on three different surfaces. That’s not great preparation for this event, though at least his last tournament was on a hard court. In his young career, Tsitsipas has already come back many times from considerable disappointment. And this is the city where Stefanos achieved his first true breakout in the sport, reaching the final of the 2018 event, with four consecutive top 10 wins. Returning to Toronto for the first time in three years could be just what the 22-year-old Greek needs to turn his summer around.
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Bianca Andreescu (2) vs. Harriet Dart – Andreescu is the defending champion at her country’s biggest event, but she’s lost four of her last five matches. Dart is a 25-year-old Brit who took out another Canadian, Leylah Fernandez, in the opening round.
Daniil Medvedev (1) vs. Alexander Bublik – Medvedev is 4-0 against Bublik, who took out Dan Evans on Monday. Two of those encounters occurred within the past few months, will all five sets going to the top seed.
Garbine Muguruza (5) vs. Katerina Siniakova – Muguruza reached the quarterfinals the last time she played in Canada, though that was four years ago. Siniakova took out another Major champion on Monday in Jelena Ostapenko, and is coming off a gold medal run in women’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics.
Cameron Norrie vs. Karen Khachanov – Norrie is having an excellent year, with 37 match wins, one title, and three other finals. This will be Khachanov’s first match since taking the silver medal in Tokyo. They’ve already played three times this year, and Norrie leads 2-1.
Victoria Azarenka (8) vs. Sorana Cirstea – This is another case where a seeded player is looking to avenge a recent upset. At Wimbledon last month, Cirstea defeated Azarenka 6-4 in the third. Vika claimed all of their other three meetings, which all occurred in 2008 or 2009.
Casper Ruud (6) vs. Marin Cilic – Ruud is on a 12-match winning streak, having accumulated three consecutive clay court titles in July. Cilic just won a silver medal in men’s doubles at the Olympics. Last September on the clay of Rome, Ruud beat Cilic in straight sets.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
