Preview / Schedule 2024 Canadian Open (Montreal and Toronto) - Thursday, August 8th, including top seeds Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff in action

The National Bank Open - Canadian Open is set to continue on Thursday with a packed schedule that will feature some of the best players in highly anticipated matches.

After not having to play in the first round due to having byes, players like Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff will start their campaign today, and it promises to be a very interesting day of tennis. Sinner, who recently reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and Gauff, who had an okay showing at the Paris Olympics, are expected to deliver exciting performances. Besides them, we'll also have other seeds like Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and more like Naomi Osaka playing.

As always, the event is played in two cities, a unique feature of the Canadian Open. The women's matches will be held in Toronto this year, while the men's matches will take place in Montreal. The starting times for both events is 11:00 local time which is 17:00 Central European time. We're going to start this schedule off with the women, so let's take a look at what fans can expect to see in Montreal today.

On the women's side, we'll have several really interesting matches spread across several courts. The main one will kick off a bit later at 18:30 CET, but it's going to be a banger because top-seed Coco Gauff will play. The American last stood on the tennis courts at the Paris Olympics and was kind of disappointed with her level, failing to go deep in either of the three competitions she participated in.

Returning to the hard courts of North America should do her good because she did well last year. It was in Montreal last year that she kind of started picking up form, which culminated with the US Open triumph. Let's see how this year goes as she'll face Yafan Wang. The Chinese player is a solid player but shouldn't give Gauff too much trouble, especially considering her recent form.

After that, we'll see an interesting one between Leylah Fernandez and Ashlyn Krueger. Fernandez almost threw away a win against Nao Hibino last night but was able to escape in three sets. Krueger has meanwhile looked amazing, trashing opponents left and right, but she's not unbeatable. The crowd will be heavily pulling for Fernandez, and she is the better player right now. It's far from a surefire win, though, because Krueger, as we noted, can play and has been playing well in recent days.

The star power remains the same because Aryna Sabalenka will be on the courts, and she's taking on Yuan Yue. The Chinese player plays an attacking style, which makes for some exciting points. However, very few tennis players are as good at that as Sabalenka, so she's expected to win this match and progress further, given her qualities.

The final match in the biggest stadium will feature Naomi Osaka taking on Elise Mertens. It's a tricky matchup for Osaka, but she showed a high level against Ons Jabeur, so the expectation is that she brings that again. She's a player to watch in these upcoming weeks because this part of the season is generally when she plays her best tennis.

The other courts will feature a couple of interesting matches as well, some of which we'll look closer at. On the Cashmere Grandstand, we'll kick off at 17:00 CET with a Ukrainian battle, as Elina Svitolina will take on Marta Kostyuk. That's a fascinating matchup, though a bit of a shame for Ukraine, as one of those players will be leaving for Cincinnati early. Still an exciting one to get us underway before Gauff takes the courts at 18:30.

Sometime later, we'll see Paula Badosa play against Jelena Ostapenko, who is always good for a great match. Badosa has been playing superb tennis lately, winning six matches in a row, but she'll be properly tested in this one. Both can win, though the form likely means that, at least nominally, Badosa should be the favorite. We'll see if she'll win, though, because Ostapenko loves to mess up a good winning streak.

There are a couple of more interesting matches such as Emma Navarro playing against Daria Kasatkina, Victoria Azarenka taking on Greet Minnen, and Payton Stearns taking on Madison Keys. We won't be taking a closer look at that, but rather, let's see what the men will give us in Montreal.

today, 17:00 2R Frech - Shnaider (14) 0-0

today, 17:00 2R Tsurenko - Kalinskaya (10) 1-0

today, 17:00 2R Svitolina - Kostyuk (11) 1-0

today, 18:30 2R Navarro (8) - Linette 0-0

today, 18:30 2R Townsend - Stakusic 0-0

today, 18:30 2R Gauff (1) - Wang 0-0

today, 18:30 2R Uchijima - Samsonova (6) 0-0

today, 20:00 2R Krueger - Fernandez (15) 0-1

today, 20:00 2R Kasatkina (5) - Anisimova 0-3

today, 20:00 2R Stearns - Keys (7) 0-0

today, 20:00 2R Haddad Maia (13) - Boulter 0-2

today, 23:00 2R Badosa - Ostapenko (4) 2-2

tomorrow, 00:30 2R Azarenka (12) - Minnen 0-0

tomorrow, 01:00 2R Yuan - Sabalenka (2) 0-0

tomorrow, 02:30 2R Osaka - Mertens 4-2

The men's side of the Canadian Open is a pretty great event because most of the seeds that played in Paris rushed to Montreal to play this event, and most of them are starting today. That includes top seed Jannik Sinner and some other great players like Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, et al.

Play starts at 17:00 CET, and Daniil Medvedev will take on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on the biggest court. It's a fascinating matchup between Medvedev, who should appreciate being back on courts like this, and Davidovich Fokina, who had some decent performances on hard courts.

He's more of a clay player, but don't think that he shies away from playing on these courts because he will surprise you. Overall, it was a pretty great one to get us underway, but it's followed up by an even more interesting one between Jordan Thompson and Alexander Zverev. Thompson continues to impress, having bested Jack Draper in the first round, and now he'll try to do the same against Zverev.

The German left the Olympics in a bad mood after playing poorly and feeling poorly. We don't know his true condition, but this match should give us a very good idea because if he's not close to his best, he will get beaten. After that, we'll see Jannik Sinner on the courts, and he'll have to face Borna Coric, who has been playing pretty good tennis lately.

It promises to be a very interesting match and a proper test for Sinner, who has been away from the courts since Wimbledon. Let's see if he can continue as if nothing happened because he's done that a few times this year.

The night session will begin at 19:00 local time, with Thanasi Kokkinakis taking on Hubert Hurkacz. Kokkinakis has been playing really solid tennis recently, especially since returning to the hard courts, but it won't be very easy for him to play this one. Hurkacz is one of the most consistent tennis players and loves to play on courts like these. He grew up on them and often practices on courts like this one, so beating him won't be a cakewalk. Still, with the form he's shown recently, Kokkinakis will have a shot.

The final match of the schedule in the big stadium will be a proper derby between Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda. The latter has just won Washington and is playing superb tennis, while Taylor Fritz has been pretty solid for a while. He's not in the best form right now, which makes Korda the favorite, but he can certainly play really good tennis and beat his fellow American.

The other courts will feature a few pretty interesting matchups as well, and we're going to go over them. First of all, we'll have Kei Nishikori facing Stefanos Tsitsipas. It was great seeing the former Top 10 player winning a match, but now the question is whether he can back it up against one of the better players in the world. Another interesting match will be between Andrey Rublev and Tomas Etcheverry. The Russian has looked increasingly frustrated with his performances in recent weeks, so let's see what kind of Rublev shows up in this one.

Tommy Paul will try to extend his good run against Brandon Nakashima, who ousted Denis Shapovalov in the previous round. Paul is the big favorite, but Nakashima has proved to be quite a tricky player who can do some damage if you put him on a court like this one. Holger Rune will also be in action, and he'll face Pablo Carreno Busta, who won this event in 2022. The Spaniard missed a lot of time with injuries, but don't underestimate him. He's just getting back, but he can play well and has played well here.

Finally we have to mention Ben Shelon takong on Alexei Popyrin. That's gonna be an interesting one between two players who have a similar profile. Shelton has had a lacklustre season so far but this is his bread and butter. He can turn it around in the coming weeks and he made a good start by beating Alexander Bublik in the previous round. Can he follow it up? We’ll see but that's what we can expect from the Canadian Open today.

It’s a packed schedule with lots of great matchups which promise lots of great tennis. It’s coming up in a few hours so don’t go far and stick with us for more tennis.

today, 17:00 2R Paul (10) - Nakashima 1-2

today, 17:00 2R Humbert (12) - Borges 1-0

today, 17:00 2R Medvedev (3) - Davidovich Fokina 4-0

today, 17:00 2R Nishikori - Tsitsipas (8) 1-1

today, 18:30 2R Arnaldi - Khachanov (16) 0-0

today, 18:30 2R Thompson - Zverev (2) 2-2

today, 18:30 2R Dimitrov (7) - Hijikata 1-0

today, 18:30 2R Etcheverry - Rublev (5) 0-0

today, 20:00 2R Ruud (6) - Duckworth 0-0

today, 20:00 2R Sinner (1) - Coric 1-0

today, 20:00 2R Rune (13) - Carreno-Busta 0-3

today, 20:00 2R Sonego - Tabilo (15) 1-0

today, 21:30 2R Popyrin - Shelton (11) 0-1

tomorrow, 01:00 2R Kokkinakis - Hurkacz (4) 1-3

tomorrow, 01:00 2R Cobolli - Rinderknech 1-1

tomorrow, 02:30 2R Korda - Fritz (9) 0-2