It is Day Three at the Canadian Open (National Bank Open) in Toronto and for many of the top names, it is their first taste of action with Carlos Alcaraz leading our preview on Wednesday August 9, 2023.

The schedule is set which also includes Milos Raonic, Stefanos Tsitsipas - Gael Monfils, Holger Rune and Andy Murray among others. Another frenetic day awaits in Canada.

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Tasty tie of the day as Alcaraz faces Shelton

The tie of the day has to be Carlos Alcaraz facing Ben Shelton. The Spaniard with a fresh trim and a new Grand Slam title will play ATP singles action for the first time since Wimbledon. He did play Hopman Cup the week after Wimbledon, but unlike previous years did not play the European Clay Court swing which he was well versed in winning titles and reaching finals in. But unlike Novak Djokovic, he will play both US Open warm-ups and it starts with a tie against a rising star hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Shelton has been gaining a lot of admirers in the last 12 months. Since deciding to turn professional after coming through the college system, he has gone on a European Tour of sorts and now returns home to America and in this case of course Canada ahead of the US Open.

He saw off Bernabe Zapata Mirallas in his opening win 7-6, 6-4 in the early hours of Wednesday morning and it'll be technically Thursday when he faces Alcaraz. No Head to Head between these two for obvious reasons, but who takes the first meeting of 20-year-olds who many see as the future of the sport.

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Tsitsipas-Monfils, Raonic, Murray among other talking points

From the future of the sport to the veterans in comparison as Gael Monfils and Milos Raonic again will take Centre Stage to begin the day on Wednesday.

They will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in one of the main ties to watch. The Greek after spending a while having more headlines about his private life than his tennis won Los Cabos last week and is firmly back in form. With Mark Philippoussis as his full-time coach instead of his father, he will aim to use that as a catalyst for a further upturn. A player who knows about having his relationship in the public eye is Monfils who before getting married to his fellow tennis player, Elina Svitolina was known as G.E.M.S Life with their own social channels similar albeit not with some of the newsworthy quotes of Tsitsidosa.

Monfils has taken a while to hit top gear in his comeback, but despite dropping retirement hints recently, he has been gaining wins again and will look to test the World No.4. It is a clash not seen since 2019 in which Tsitsipas won in Dubai. It is 2-1 in favour of the Greek head to head wise.

While on paper, Raonic has an easier tie than he did in his opener. He will face Taro Daniel. The latter had to come through qualifying and Raonic took out one of the favourites in Frances Tiafoe to start. He has beaten Daniel twice too at the Delray Beach Open in 2018 and four years prior at the US Open. Back on a mission in front of his home crowd.

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Fritz, Zverev, Medvedev, Berrettini-Sinner, Rune and Murray also in action

An utterly stacked day gets even more so with Holger Rune rounding out the main court action against Marcos Giron. But on the outside courts, there are many ties that could be on that main court.

Alexander Zverev faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Italian heroes square off as Matteo Berrettini faces Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev begin their campaigns.

As well as Andy Murray facing a winnable tie against Max Purcell to get into the Last 16. A must watch day of action incoming in Toronto.

Day Three - 2023 Canadian Open ATP Toronto Schedule