PREVIEW Canadian Open WTA Montreal: Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek leads, Jessica Pegula aims for historic three-peat

The WTA 1000 Canadian Open 2025 will take place from July 27th to August 26th with a 96-player draw – 32 of them seeded, awaiting their debut in the second round. Recent Grand Slam champions Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek will be the top two seeds, while two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula joins the favorites.

The tournament will be marked by the absence of three top-10 players, opening up opportunities in the draw, following the confirmed withdrawals of Aryna Sabalenka (No. 1), Zheng Qinwen (No. 6), and Paula Badosa (No. 10).

The first seed of the tournament will be American Coco Gauff, one of the most successful players in the American hardcourt swing in recent years. The world No. 2 will take advantage of Sabalenka's absence to assume the role of favorite, after an early exit in the first round of Wimbledon earlier this month. She will need to perform at her best from the start, as she could face former world No. 7 Danielle Collins in her opening match, who debuts against qualifier Viktoriya Tomova.

The second seed is Iga Swiatek – who perhaps arrives a step ahead of Gauff in terms of her current form. The Pole recently secured her sixth Grand Slam title and avenged a difficult year, where she had fallen in tournament semifinals seven times and in a final the week prior to Wimbledon. With the surface change, it remains to be seen if Swiatek can quickly adapt, and if what happened at the All England Club will be a turning point for her to return to being a consistent protagonist. This is a good opportunity for the Pole, who is not defending points this week and is slowly starting to become a threat to Sabalenka at the top of the ranking.

Another strong favorite will be Jessica Pegula, arguably the player with the best performance in Canada over the last few years. The third seed reached semifinals in her first two appearances (2021, 2022) and then claimed the title in 2023 and 2024. A 17-2 record in the tournament (89%) and a 12-match winning streak accredit her to fight for the possibility of a third consecutive title, something only Monica Seles has achieved (winning the title 4 times from 1995-1998).

Teenager Mirra Andreeva has long been a reality as one of the favorites, and this time she will be the fourth seed – an advantageous position to avoid the top three contenders until at least the semifinals. However, the draw did not favor her, as she awaits her debut opponent between Bianca Andreescu and Barbora Krejcikova, in a first-round clash of Grand Slam champions. The Russian has already secured two WTA 1000 titles this season.

Elena Rybakina had a great campaign at the DC Open, reaching the semifinals, but fell in an erratic encounter against Leylah Fernandez, decided in three tie-breaks after more than 3 hours. Over 60 unforced errors for the former Wimbledon champion ultimately proved costly, as she squandered her chances to close out the win on serve when leading 5-4 in the second set.

Amanda Anisimova will make her first appearance since reaching the Wimbledon final and suffering a painful 0-6, 0-6 defeat in her first Grand Slam final. Nevertheless, she once again showed her potential to be among the best, having reached the Canadian Open final a year ago and winning the WTA 1000 Doha title earlier in the year. Hardcourts undoubtedly favor her, and as the fifth seed, she will be a player to watch in the draw. The question is whether she will be able to regain confidence in her first appearance after Wimbledon and become a serious contender for the title.

Madison Keys is the other local player tipped with good chances in the tournament. She will be the sixth seed, and back on North American hardcourts, there are few doubts about the level she can display. She has a 19-3 record on hardcourts this season and was champion at the Australian Open and Adelaide International this season. Can she maintain the level that made her the best player during the first months of 2025 at this point in the year?