Two years ago, Bianca Andreescu came out of nowhere to have a spectacular season. After winning Indian Wells as a wild card, she won this North American hard court event as well, the biggest tournament her country has to offer. And just a few weeks later, she won her first Major in New York. Due to injuries and the pandemic, she didn’t play at all last year, and is just 13-7 in 2021. In the third round, she faces one of this season’s best players, Ons Jabeur.
Also on Thursday, two significant runners-up from recent big events collide to start the day in Toronto.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing men’s and women’s matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Thursday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) vs. Karen Khachanov – 11:00am on Stadium Court in Toronto
It’s been a tough few months for Tsitsipas, who is just 4-3 since losing in the French Open final. And he also suffered a deeply personal loss that day, finding out his grandmother had passed away. But he persevered on Tuesday night, and avenged another recent, painful defeat. After losing to Ugo Humbert two weeks ago at the Tokyo Olympics, and failing to convert five match points against Ugo in Tuesday’s epic second set tiebreak, he overcame the Frenchman 6-1 in the third. Khachanov reached the gold medal match in Tokyo, but was soundly beaten by Zverev on that day. But he’s bounced back nicely this week, already taking out two of the ATP’s strongest 2021 performers in Cameron Norrie and Aslan Karatsev. However, this rivalry has been one-sided to date. Tsitsipas leads 3-0, with all three victories coming on hard courts. The first two were straight set affairs, while Khachanov pushed Tsitsipas all the way to 7-5 in the third earlier this season in Rotterdam. Coming off what could have been a pivotal victory in the last round, and with fond memories from three years ago in Toronto, I like the Greek’s chances of remaining undefeated against Khachanov.
Bianca Andreescu (2) vs. Ons Jabeur (13) – Not Before 7:00pm on Centre Court in Montreal
As little tennis as Andreescu has played over the last 21 months, she showed back in March how dangerous she remains on hard courts. Bianca endured four consecutive three-setters in Miami, many of which approached three hours in length, before having to retire in the second set of the final against Ash Barty. But few players have been more impressive over the last 12 months than Jabeur, who has a compiled a record of 47-19 since the pandemic restart. She was especially impressive on grass this year, going 10-2. However, Ons just played a grueling second round match against Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday night, that went well into Thursday morning. Andreescu also played a long second round match, but that was a full day earlier. A fresh Bianca on this surface will be a considerable favorite in their first career meeting. Hopefully both are feeling relatively close to 100%, because if they are, it could make for a dynamic affair between two of the sport’s grittiest, most entertaining players.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Rebecca Marino (WC) – The top seed narrowly survived on Wednesday against Sloane Stephens, coming back from 4-1 down in the third set. Marino is a Canadian ranked 220th in the world who retired from the sport nine years ago due to depression. This is her first main draw appearance in Montreal since 2011, and she already upset Madison Keys and Paula Badosa this week.
Diego Schwartzman (8) vs. Roberto Bautista Agut (10) – This should be a good one, featuring lots of grueling, compelling rallies. They’ve surprisingly only played twice, with the last occasion coming at this event two years ago, a match Bautista Agut won in straight sets.
Victoria Azarenka (8) vs. Maria Sakkari (11) – Azarenka is a three-time semifinalist in Canada, though in the past 10 years, she’s only advanced beyond the second round once. Prior to this week, Sakkari was 0-2 lifetime at this tournament. Last October in Ostrava, Azarenka easily defeated Sakkari, dropping just four games.
Andrey Rublev (4) vs. John Isner – Rublev is 0-2 against Isner, though the first time they played six years ago, he was a 17-year-old ranked outside the top 300. When they met earlier this year in Madrid, the American prevailed in a third set tiebreak.
Karolina Pliskova (4) vs. Amanda Anisimova (Q) – Speaking of third set tiebreaks, Pliskova needed one to defeat Donna Vekic on Wednesday. Anisimova came through qualifying and has won four matches thus far, though she’s yet to face a player ranked inside the top 60. Pliskova has claimed both their previous meetings in straights, both of which were on hard courts.
Gael Monfils vs. Frances Tiafoe (LL) – On Wednesday night, Monfils earned just his fourth win since February of 2020. Earlier in the evening, Tiafoe upset Canada’s own Denis Shapovalov. Frances took their only prior encounter, two years ago in Cincinnati.
Coco Gauff (15) vs. Johanna Konta – Both players battled COVID-19 last month. The British No.1 took out recent bronze medalist Elina Svitolina on Wednesday. But she’s 0-1 against Gauff, who won 6-3, 6-3 at last fall’s French Open.
Daniil Medvedev (1) vs. James Duckworth (Q) – The 29-year-old Australian upset Washington champ Jannik Sinner in the second round. Medvedev was the runner-up of this event in 2019.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.