Battle lines drawn for Rogers Cup showdowns
Youthful mix hits T.O., Nadal and Federer on collision course in Montreal
It wasn’t long ago that Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and Canadian Francoise Abanda were competing against each other on the junior tennis circuit.
Now regulars on the senior scene, they’ll represent a younger crop of players at next week’s Rogers Cup.
“A lot of good players born in 1997 are now on tour and it’s really nice to see,” Ostapenko said following Friday’s draw at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.
Ostapenko, who won the French Open to shoot up to No. 12 in the world, will play a qualifier when the tournament starts Monday at the Aviva Centre. Abanda, who reached a career-high 120th in the WTA rankings in July, will open against No. 41 Lucie Safarova. The Montreal upand-comer is competing in the main draw for the fourth time.
“It’s definitely a different vibe playing at the Rogers Cup,” the 20-yearold said. “Hopefully I can feed off the crowd.” Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, ranked 73rd in the world, will take on a qualifier in the opening round.
Karolina Pliskova, No.1in the world rankings, is the top seed. Wild-card Maria Sharapova — whose return from a doping suspension has drawn criticism from some opponents, including Bouchard — pulled out Thursday with a forearm injury. Mississauga teen Bianca Andreescu — who upset Kristina Mladenovic at the Citi Open in Washington on Thursday — was added in Sharapova’s spot.
Hours earlier at the draw for the men’s event in Montreal, organizers were playing up the presence of resurgent Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and playing down the absence of injured Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka.
“I’m sorry for those players but the story of the year in 2017 is two names: Federer and Nadal,” tournament director Eugene Lapierre said at Uniprix Stadium. “Those two guys … will be competing for No. 1 in the world in the next few tournaments.”
It marks he first time Nadal and Federer, both well into their 30s, have been seeded first and second, respectively, since Monte Carlo in 2011. That puts them on opposite sides of the draw, so they have a chance to meet in the final.
Canadian Milos Raonic — who lost to Jack Sock in Friday’s Citi Open quarter-finals in Washington — is seeded sixth and will get a firstround bye. He could meet Nadal in the quarter-finals.