The Canadian Open or the Canadian Masters, which is primarily known as the Rogers Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament which is played on outdoor hard courts. It belongs to the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in 2018 ATP World Tour, and is a WTA Premier 5 Tournament in the 2018 WTA World Tour.
The 2018 Rogers Cup begins on 6th August and will continue till the 12th of August. It will be the 129th edition for the men’s tournament while the 117th edition for the WTA counterpart.
About
The Canadian Open has two venues in two cities - the IGA Stadium in Montreal and the Aviva Centre in Toronto.The former has a maximum capacity of 8,000 while the latter has a capacity of 12,500 in the centre court which is also known as the Stadium Court.
The 2018 Montreal Masters or the WTA Rogers Cup will have a total prize money of $501,975 for the singles title and $143,600 for the doubles champions. The prize money will be distributed according to the WTA stipulations.
Defending Champions
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine is the defending champion of the Women’s Singles in the Rogers Cup, while Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia are the defending doubles champions.
Favourites
Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament citing personal reasons. The 23-time Grand Slam winner made her return to competitive action just back in March this year, following the birth of her child and would have been one of the top favorites in Montreal.
While Elina Svitolina is all set to defend her title, the top seeds are World No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania and No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki. The latter was defeated in the finals of the last year’s edition by Svitolina, and the Danish star would be looking for a rematch.
Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Carol Zhou have been handed tough draws, while Rebecca Marino is only a win away from the main qualification draw, who is also returning to competitive action after nearly five years. Similarly, 15-year old Leylah Fernandez is also a win away from the main qualification draw.
