Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are among the top favorites to win the title in Toronto, but they had a rather difficult draw.
Nadal
As the seed no.1, Rafa has a bye and a direct access to the 2nd round where he will face either Donaldson or Paire. None of them should pose a significant threat to the world no.1 that instead will have to face either Wawrinka or, worse, Kyrgios in the 3rd round. If the Australian is fit (a big if) he will be a big problem for Rafa that struggles to face players that like to go for broke.
The King of Clay is then projected to face Cilic in the quarters (a tough customer on hard courts) and then Isner in the semis. Still, Rafa is the obvious favorite in all his matches, but this is not the sort of draw that he likes.
Djokovic
Nole was the big (pleasant) surprise of the summer after he won his 4th Wimbledon. Seeded no.9, the Serbian will face his Australian Open conqueror, Hyeon Chung, in the first round, and he is projected to face Zverev already in the quarters. If he goes through, Nole is supposed to face either Grigor Dimitrov of Kevin Anderson in the semifinal.
Shapovalov
Denis will be the “big” name of this event after the home favorite managed to get to the semifinal in the last year’s Rogers Cup in Montreal after beating the likes of Juan Martin Del Potro and Rafael Nadal.
Interesting enough, the Argentine and the Spaniard are on Denis’ way also this year as the Canadian may face Juan Martin in the 3rd round and Rafa in the semis.
Possible quarters
Here the plausible quarters
Nadal – Cilic
Del Potro/Shapovalov – Isner
Dimitrov – Anderson
Djokovic – Zverev
| A TOUGH ONE FOR BOTH |
| Embed from Getty Images |
