Thursday is scheduled to see the completion of second round singles action in both Montreal and Toronto, with almost all the players remaining in singles taking to the court.
Four-time Major champion Naomi Osaka played at a pretty high level the last few months on clay and grass, and now that she’s back on the surface where all four of her Majors were captured, she’s eager to accumulate some big wins just a few weeks ahead of the US Open. On Wednesday, Osakascored a decisive victory over a less-than-100% Ons Jabeur. In the next round, she faces Elise Mertens, who defeated Naomi earlier this season on a hard court.
Another big star from Japan looking to regain their form of yesteryear is Kei Nishikori, who on Tuesday earned his first victory at a Masters 1000 event in three years, over Alex Michelsen. But on Thursday, he faces a big challenge in the form of a fellow Major finalist, Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Almost all the top seeds play their opening matches on what will be a busy Thursday between Montreal and Toronto.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent match in both Montreal and Toronto, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule in each city. Thursday’s play begins at 11:00am local time in both cities.
Stefanos Tsitsipas practicing this week (twitter.com/OBNmontreal)
Kei Nishikori (PR) vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) – 11:00am on Court Rogers in Montreal
It was six years ago at this tournament when Tsitsipas made his big breakthrough in this sport. Still a teenager at the time, the Greek earned four consecutive top 10 victories (Thiem, Djokovic, Zverev, Anderson) before falling to Rafael Nadal in the final. However, he has now lost his opening match in three of his last four appearances here, and is just 3-5 against top 10 players in 2024.
Nishikori peaked at No.4 in the world back in 2015, but has been unable to stay healthy in recent years. This is only his sixth ATP event since the Fall of 2021, and his win on Tuesday was just his second of the season at tour level. Kei was the runner-up at this tournament in 2016, yet hasn’t advanced beyond the second round ever since.
Their head-to-head stands at one-a-piece, with both matches occurring on hard courts, though they took place back in 2018 and 2021. The more recent contest went to Tsitsipas, which was a three-setter in Miami. When they meet again on a North American hard court, Stefanos is the favorite to prevail over Kei, who is desperately lacking in match play.
Naomi Osaka (WC) vs. Elise Mertens – Last on Centre Court in Toronto
This past March in Indian Wells, Osaka lost a tight straight-setter to Mertens, in a match which saw Naomi spraying errors all over the court. That was just the third month on Naomi’s comeback from child birth, and nearly five months later, it appears she’s steadily getting her mojo back. Ons Jabeur was clearly hampered by a shoulder injury against Osaka on Wednesday, but Naomi still looked extremely sharp.
Two months ago on grass, Osaka avenged that loss to Mertens, in a straight-set victory of her own. Overall Naomi is 4-2 against Elise, and Osaka is now 17-14 on the year, while Mertens is 20-18. However, Elise arrived in Toronto having lost six of her last nine matches, which included two mid-match retirements, so like Ons, she hasn’t been fully healthy of late either.
With seven of the top 10 women in the world not playing in Toronto this week, it’s a huge opportunity for a player like Naomi to earn her first big result in quite some time. And I expect Osaka to take another step towards that milestone on Thursday, with her fifth win over Mertens.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Daniil Medvedev (3) vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina – Medvedev won this event back in 2021, and he is 4-0 against Davidovich Fokina, which includes a straight-set victory earlier this season in Dubai.
Coco Gauff (1) vs. Yafan Wang (Q) – Gauff is coming off disappointing results at Wimbledon and the Olympics, and has 3,000 points to defend between Cincinnati and the US Open later this month. This is her first meeting with Yafan, who upset another Major winner from the United States in the last round, Sofia Kenin.
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Borna Coric (Q) – Sinner starts the biggest title defense of his career to date on Thursday, and this is his first match since a quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon to Medvedev. Jannik is 1-0 against Borna, who has a losing record this year at tour level.
Cristina Bucsa vs. Aryna Sabalenka (2) – After missing Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury, Sabalenka lost in the semifinals of Washington last week to Marie Bouzkova. Bucsa is coming off a bronze medal performance last week at the Olympics in women’s doubles.
Paula Badosa vs. Jelena Ostapenko (4) – Badosa was the champion last week in Washington, her biggest title in over two-and-a-half years. She has split four prior encounters with Ostapenko.
Sebastian Korda vs. Taylor Fritz (9) – Korda was the men’s singles champion last week in Washington, the biggest title of his career to date. But he is 0-2 against Fritz, who won a bronze medal at the Olympics in men’s doubles.
Thursday’s full Order of Play for the ATP is here, and for the WTA is here.
