With just 3 weeks until the start of US Open, the plenty of top level tennis is about to be played with two WTA 1000 tournaments played in back-to-back weeks. Montreal hosts the world's top class players in the Omnium Banque Nationale event. The main draw of this tournament got already revealed and filled up with the names of qualifiers, who competed in really stacked field of qualies, which got competed in a weekend.
Ons Jabeur, Barbora Krejcikova and Veronika Kudermetova are the only top 20 players missing in the main draw. Jabeur has withdrew from the tournament some time ago, while Krejcikova and Kudermetova pulled out in the last days due to injuries.
First quarter
Iga Swiatek headlines the main draw as a top seed, holding the spot of world's ranking leader for more than 70 consecutive weeks right now. Same as all 8 top seeds, the Pole received a bye in the opening round. Swiatek can start her campaign in Montreal from an interesting match-up though, as the former world's number one Karolina Pliskova can play against her in second round in case of winning against Lin Zhu in first match. The Czech will try to bounce back after losing 7 out of 8 last matches, including the surprising lose to Hailey Baptiste in the opening round of last week's WTA 500 event in Washington.
Deeper in the tournament, the prestige can lift up, as Swiatek can meet another Czech, Karolina Muchova in third round. The possible revenge for this year's final of Roland Garros can happen especially if Muchova handle with a tricky first round's draw, where she plays against Anastasia Potapova.
This section of a draw delivers two blockbusters from the start, as the 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia plays against Paula Badosa in opening round, while Elina Svitolina pairs up with Danielle Collins. The Ukrainian comes to Montreal just after reaching out the quarters in Washington, while the American has needed to climb through the qualies. Collins defeated Eugenie Bouchard and Emina Bektas - both in three sets. The latter match was a real rollercoaster, as Collins needed to play a decider despite having 4 matchpoints against her fellowcountry in second set's tiebreak. Bektas, who scored as many as 20 aces in this match, had a brilliant chance to score an amazing comeback win from this, as she was leading 5-3 in third set, but Collins found her proper level in the decisive moments to deny the upset. The winner from between Svitolina and Collins will set up another hit clash against Maria Sakkari in second round. The Greek approaches Montreal just after being a runner up in the recently ended up event in Washington.
Second quarter
Five huge names appear in this section, as the top seeds with byes in first round are Jessica Pegula and Cori Gauff, who won her career's most valuable title in the Mubadala DC City Open on Sunday. All the spotlight will be focused on Caroline Wozniacki though, as the Dane comes back from retirement to compete full-time in the WTA tour. The former world's number one got assured with wild cards into event in Montreal and US Open. Her first professional match in resumed career will be a meeting with the qualifier from Australia, Kimberly Birrell. Another well-known champ from the past in second quarter is Venus Williams. The 7 times Grand Slam champion has also received a wild card and starts from an exciting match against Madison Keys, who advanced into quarters last week in Washington. Marketa Vondrousova is also there, playing her first tournament as a Grand Slam champion. The new world's top 10 player starts her campaign in Canada from a match against Mayar Sherif.
Third quarter
Elena Rybakina starts her US swing as a third seed and top ranked player in third quarter of a draw. The Kazakh comes back on hard courts after an impressive campaign at the start of 2023, when she approached the final of Australian Open, won the Indian Wells and became an runner-up in Miami Open. After a rocket start of this year, the campaigns on clay and grass were not so successful, but Rybakina is surely one of the biggest contenders to play for the titles in whole American hard-courts season. The world's number 4 can start from an interesting match-up, as she meets Jelena Ostapenko or Jennifer Brady in second round, who set up possibly the most interesting first round's match in this section. Caroline Garcia will try to regroup after disappointing first round exit in Washington. The French is 5th seed and gets a bye in first round. Daria Kasatkina vs Elise Mertens is also a first round's match-up not to be missed in this quarter.
Forth quarter
Aryna Sabalenka continues her mission to dethrone Iga Swiatek on the spot of world's ranking leader. The Belarusian missed her good chances to do so, while losing the semifinals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon despite being in a good position to win both matches. Sabalenka can get a challenging opponent in third round, as some really good names are placed in this section. Marta Kostyuk vs. Qinwen Zheng is expected to be an exciting match-up. Kostyuk advanced into quarters in Washington, while Zheng celebrated her first career's title in Palermo two weeks ago. The winner of this match can meet Liudmila Samsonova, who plays in Montreal as 15th seed and starts from the match against Katerina Siniakova. One of those names can be the opponent of Sabalenka in third round.
Petra Kvitova will play her first tournament on hard courts after winning the Miami Open in March. The Czech is 7th seed and gets a bye in first round. Her opponent will be settled in an absolute blockbuster played between Bianca Andreescu and Camila Giorgi. The local hero did not met the cut-off into main draw, but got obviously awarded with a wild card. This has not happened in case of Giorgi, who won there in Montreal in the latest edition of a tournament, played in 2021. The reigning champion has needed to play in qualies and did the job done well, despite facing a difficult opponent in second round. Ashlyn Krueger has forced a decider against Giorgi in Sunday's final round of qualies. The American was even leading with an early break in third set, but Giorgi came out of trouble to win the whole thing by 6-3 4-6 6-3.
