No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka broke through to her first Major semifinal last month at Wimbledon, and already has won four WTA 1000 events. On Wednesday, she faces 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. It was Stephens’ surprising run to the semifinals of this event four years ago which helped propel her to her first Major title.
Canadian No.1 Denis Shapovalov also broke through to his first Major semifinal last month at The Championships, and has reached the semifinals or better of five Masters 1000 events. The first of those came four years ago at this tournament, highlighted by his electrifying, breakthrough win over Rafael Nadal in a third set tiebreak. On Wednesday, he faces Frances Tiafoe, who upset Stefanos Tsistipas a few weeks ago at The All England Club.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing men’s and women’s matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Wednesday’s play gets underway at 11:00am local time.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Sloane Stephens – Second on Centre Court in Montreal
The hard courts in Canada would seem to be conducive to Sabalenka’s authoritative groundstrokes, but she’s only 2-2 lifetime at this event. Against Stephens, she’s 1-0, but that was a Billie Jean King Cup match from four years ago. Sloane’s aforementioned run at this tournament that same year came out of nowhere, as she was coming off an injury layoff which lasted almost a year. That week, she defeated Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, and Lucie Safarova. Her defensive skills, and her ability to turn defense into offense, will be critical in overcoming the power of Sabalenka. Sloane was unsuccessful in doing so last week against another big-hitter, the red-hot Danielle Collins, though no one has been able to subdue Collins the last few weeks. Still, Aryna remains a slight favorite considering how well she has performed since October of last year.
Denis Shapovalov (5) vs. Frances Tiafoe (LL) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court in Toronto
Shapovalov has won four of their five encounters, including the last four. Tiafoe’s only win came in 2018 at Delray Beach, which was also the only ATP title of Frances’ career. Most recently, they met in June at Queens Club, a match Denis won in straight sets. Tiafoe actually lost in qualifying over the weekend, but took advantage of a lucky loser spot and defeated Yoshihito Nishioka on Tuesday. The 23-year-old American has shown signs of rediscovering his best level from a few years ago, yet has struggled to sustain it. He has the firepower to contend with any player on any day, and Shapovalov may feel some nerves playing at home as his country’s top-ranked male. But Denis has become a much more consistent, polished player over the last 12 months, and should be able to advance to the third round after some flashy shot-making on both sides of the net.
Other Notable Matches on Wednesday:
Elina Svitolina (3) vs. Johanna Konta – Svitolina is coming off a bronze medal run in Tokyo, while Konta had to withdraw from the Olympics due to testing positive for COVID-19. Svitolina has never lost to Konta in five previous hard court meetings at all levels.
Andrey Rublev (4) vs. Fabio Fognini – The Italian is 5-3 against Rublev, though the Russian claimed both of their meetings this year.
Simona Halep (6) vs. Danielle Collins – This will be Halep’s first match in three months, after injuring her calf in Rome. Collins is on an 11-match win streak after taking back-to-back titles in Palermo and San Jose on two different surfaces.
Hubert Hurkacz (7) vs. Kei Nishikori – Hurkacz was a semifinalist last month at Wimbledon, while Nishikori was a semifinalist last week in Washington. Hubi is 2-0 against Kei, with both matches occurring on hard courts on 2019.
Felix Auger-Aliassime (9) vs. Dusan Lajovic – The 31-year-old Serbian took their only previous meeting, last January at the ATP Cup. Felix is 3-2 in his career at his country’s biggest tournament.
Maria Sakkari (11) vs. Veronika Kudermetova – Both players recently reached career-high rankings, and both narrowly missed out on medals in Tokyo. Two years ago on clay in Istanbul, Kudermetova defeated Sakkari in straight sets.
Ons Jabeur (13) vs. Daria Kasatkina – This should be a fun one, featuring two of the sport’s most eclectic players. Kasatkina leads their rivalry 2-1, though Jabeur prevailed most recently, two months ago on grass in Birmingham.
Aslan Karatsev (15) vs. Karen Khachanov – Karatsev went on a tear following the pandemic tour shutdown, but has cooled off recently, winning only three of his last nine matches. And he lost his only prior tour-level encounter against Khachanov, last October in St. Petersburg.
Wednesday’s full Order of Play is here.