Preview / Schedule 2024 Canadian Open - Tuesday Day 1: Bianca Andreescu and Milos Raonic return to Canada

After a few days of qualifying tennis, which still hasn't concluded due to rainy weather, we're going to kick off main draw action on Tuesday in Canada. As always, the event is going on simultaneously in two cities, with the men in Montreal this year while the women are in Toronto.

There will be plenty of action on day one, with Bianca Andreescu making a return to the Canadian Open in Toronto, where she won a trophy in 2019, and also Milos Raonic hoping to give the tennis fans some excitement in Montreal. Let's unpack the whole schedule, starting with the WTA.

The first day of the WTA event will feature a packed schedule across many courts. We're going to kick off the main court at 11:00 local time, which is 17:00 CET, and it will be Shelby Rogers against Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian has been playing on a fairly solid level for a while, but this will be a proper test. Rogers hasn't played much lately, but she has always been a tricky matchup on hard courts.

After those two, we'll see a spectacular matchup between veterans Victoria Azarenka and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. It will be a proper clash of styles, with the counterpunching Azarenka and an all-out offensive player in Pavlyuchenkova. It should be a great watch and a change of pace from the previous match, so be ready for that.

The next one will be most interesting one to the crowd as native hopeful Bianca Andreescu hopes to find some inspiration. She's won here in the past and generally plays really inspired tennis back home with friends and family in attendance, and the draw was pretty solid as well. Lesia Tsurenko is no pushover but she can be beaten and Andreescu has played pretty solid tennis lately.

The Centre Court schedule will conclude with a match between Greet Minnen and Sloane Stephens, as the American veterans hope to put together a good show. She's been playing on a solid level but hasn't found a deep run in a while, and maybe it will happen this week.

The second biggest court is the Cashmere Grandstand, which will also host some very interesting matches. It will start with Marta Kostyuk facing Tatjana Maria in another clash of styles. The German plays pretty defensively with lots of slices, while Kostyuk is your typical aggressive baseliner. Those can always be fun. After that, we'll see Sofia Kenin taking on Yafan Wang. Kenin has had an abysmal season with a 7-18 record but made the semi-final here a few years ago, so maybe she can find some inspiration here. She desperately needs it.

Another one to watch is Dayana Yastremska taking on Yulia Putintseva, though the main interesting thing is the storyline: a native Ukrainian who has been refusing to shake hands with Russians will face a Russian who is playing under the Kazakshtani banner. There could be some fireworks here.

There are a few interesting doubles matches to note. Leylah Fernandez will play doubles with her sister Bianca Fernandez, so that will be quite special. Jessica Pegula will also play doubles, but she'll play with Giuliana Olmos instead of Coco Gauff who likely feels fatigued after lots of tennis in Paris.

today, 17:00 1R Tomova - Uchijima

today, 17:00 1R Potapova - Frech

today, 17:00 1R Maria - Kostyuk (11)

today, 18:30 1R Wang - Kenin

today, 18:30 1R Rogers - Svitolina

today, 20:00 1R Podoroska - Pliskova

today, 20:00 1R Azarenka (12) - Pavlyuchenkova

today, 23:00 1R Yastremska (16) - Putintseva

tomorrow, 00:30 1R Chirico - Kalinskaya (10)

tomorrow, 01:00 1R Andreescu - Tsurenko

tomorrow, 02:30 1R Minnen - Stephens

On the men's side of the draw, we'll get a really packed schedule in Montreal, partly because yesterday's qualifying matches haven't all concluded. We've had some rain for the past few days, which didn't allow all of the matches to complete. They're going to take priority over the main draw ones because most of those players will play again tomorrow.

One notable name stuck in the qualifies is Thanasi Kokkinakis, who has to overcome Roberto Bautista Agut to find himself in the main draw. That's going to be an interesting one to watch.

Another interesting match will be between Alex Michelsen and Kei Nishikori. This is a main draw match, and plenty are curious to see how the Japanese player will fare, considering that his status is pretty unknown. We seem to be healthy since he's playing, but you never know with him. Michelsen will be a pretty good test for him to see where he stands.

The two night matches in Montreal will be the most interesting ones from the ATP side of the draw. First, we'll get native hopeful Milos Raonic taking on Holger Rune in a match that promises to be quite interesting. Raonic looked pretty good in Paris, and he'll certainly be very motivated here. Rune is beatable, although he's the favourite to win that one.

The second match will be between Frances Tiafoe and Alejandro Tabilo. What makes this one interesting is that Tabilo was born and raised in Canada, even though he represents Chile. The first time he went to Chile was when he was 18, and he moved there at 19, never coming back to Canada.

Still, it's kind of a homecoming for him, and he'll likely have his family there. He's a pretty good player, so Tiafoe will need to be on alert. The American has certainly proven to be quite vulnerable this year, so this has the makings of a really interesting matchup.

Another singles match to note is the one between another Canadian hopeful, Gabriel Diallo, and Karen Khachanov. Both of them have powerful serves, which will likely make this one very close and very interesting. Whether the Canadian is able to produce the upset remains to be seen, but it should be a good match.

There are a couple of interesting doubles matches to note as Daniil Medvedev will play in doubles. Sinner will also play in doubles together with Jack Draper, as will Ben Shelton, who will play with Alexander Bublik. Now that one looks like fireworks in the making. Overall, it was a really exciting day in Montreal and Toronto.

today, 17:00 1R Sonego - Griekspoor

today, 18:30 1R Michelsen - Nishikori

today, 20:00 1R Etcheverry - Jarry

today, 21:30 1R Borges - Kecmanovic

today, 22:30 1R Diallo - Khachanov (16)

tomorrow, 01:00 1R Marozsan - Carreno-Busta

tomorrow, 01:00 1R Rune (13) - Raonic

tomorrow, 02:30 1R Tiafoe - Tabilo (15)