There’s something special about the way Leylah Fernandez captures the imagination of the fans.
Playing in front of a packed, raucous home crowd in Montreal, Fernandez used every bit of that energy to topple WTA No. 12 and reigning National Bank Open runner-up Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Milos Raonic looked extremely solid in his straight-sets win over Taro Daniel and gave the Toronto crowd plenty to cheer for. This homecoming couldn’t be going any better for the Thornhill, Ont. native and might just give him second thoughts on whether he’s as close to the end as he suggested when this tournament began.
Elsewhere, Canadian Gabriel Diallo’s dream tournament came to an end as Alex de Minaur’s impressive showing in Toronto continued. Diallo can be proud of earning his first ATP Tour-level win and it should give the 21-year-old plenty of confidence as he looks to establish his career.
As the Canadian flag continues to fly high, there’s plenty of big names ready to stand in their way. Here’s the best of what Thursday has to offer.
Women's: 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on SN NOW; 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet 360 and SN NOW; 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE and SN NOW.
Men's: 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on SN NOW; 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE and SN NOW; 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and SN NOW.
Raonic serves up the first bit of action on centre court in Toronto for the second day in a row, and he has a surprise opponent in ATP No. 59 Mackenzie McDonald.
The American shocked ATP No. 7 Andrey Rublev, which should increase Raonic’s belief that there’s a quarterfinal appearance for the taking. The Canadian’s serve remains as reliable as ever, but McDonald will look to target Raonic’s backhand just as he did so effectively against Rublev.
After beating a top-20 opponent for the first time since the 2022 French Open, Fernandez should be feeling like a giant monkey is off her back. She’s been trying to find the form that got her into the 2021 U.S. Open final and sometimes you just need that big result to validate the hard work.
She’ll have a stiff challenge against WTA No. 48 Danielle Collins, a former finalist at the Australian Open. The American is fresh off upsetting WTA No. 8 Maria Sakkari.
In women’s doubles, Canadians Carol Zhao and Marina Stakusic take on Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez for a place in the quarterfinals. In men’s doubles, Canada's Vasek Pospisil is playing alongside Frenchman Nicolas Mahut against Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz for a place in the final eight.
Andy Murray’s resurgence in his metal hip era continued with a tense, three-set win over Max Purcell on Wednesday. He now gets his stiffest test yet, against ATP No. 8 Jannik Sinner.
How much Murray has left to give after already spending over four hours on court remains to be seen, but those long matches seem to be exactly what he lives for. Sinner, meanwhile, looked good in a fairly comfortable win over compatriot Matteo Berrettini and seems destined to have a crack at Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals. Unless, of course, Murray has anything to say about it.
While Murray does his thing, ultimate entertainer Gael Monfils pulled off arguably the biggest upset of the tournament thus far in knocking out ATP No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Returning from a long injury layoff, Monfils’ ATP ranking of 276 is nowhere near what he’s capable of at his best, even at age 36. The Frenchman had been the best athlete on tour for quite some time and will look to extend his tournament on Wednesday against ATP No. 62 Aleksandar Vukic.
One of the best aspects of these top events is getting incredible matchups throughout the tournament. Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova contested this year’s French Open women’s final and now Canadian fans get to watch their first rematch.
Swiatek won that final on her favourite surface but Muchova certainly had her moments on the clay. Now, on a hard court where the matchup should be a bit more even, Muchova should fancy her chances.
After throwing a very respectable first pitch at a Blue Jays game last week, ATP No. 5 Casper Ruud further tugged at Canadian heartstrings by drawing a maple leaf on the camera after a win late Tuesday night.
With his recent efforts to be a Canadian crowd pleaser it’ll be interesting to see the kind of reception and support the Norwegian gets the rest of the way, beginning with his next match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Spaniard is fresh off thumping Alexander Zverev and has created problems for top players in the past, and even has a win over Novak Djokovic to his name.
12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT: Taylor Fritz (ATP No. 9) vs. Alex de Minaur (ATP No. 18)
1:45 p.m. ET / 10:45 a.m. PT: Marketa Vondrousova (WTA No. 10) vs. Coco Gauff (WTA No. 7)
7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT: Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 1) vs. Hubert Hurkacz (ATP No. 17)
Match times are tentative and subject to change.
Court Central
12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT: [1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs [14] Karolina Muchova (CZE)
[9] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) vs [6] Coco Gauff (USA)
7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT: [WC] Leylah Fernandez (CAN) vs [Q] Danielle Collins (USA)
[15] Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) vs [2] Aryna Sabalenka (BEL)
Court Rogers
11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT: [4] Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Jasmine Paolini (ITA)
Not before 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT: Marie Bouzkova (CZE) vs [10] Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
Not before 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT: Sloane Stephens (USA) vs [3] Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Not before 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT: [7] Petra Kvitova (CZE) vs [12] Belinda Bencic (SUI)
[4] N. Melichar-Martinez (USA) / E. Perez (AUS) vs [WC] M. Stakusic (CAN) / C. Zhao (CAN)
Court 9
11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT: L. Siegemund (GER) / V. Zvonareva (RUS) vs [7] S. Aoyama (JPN) / E. Shibahara (JPN)
[6] L. Kichenok (UKR) / J. Ostapenko (LAT) vs [ALT] M. Linette (POL) / B. Pera (USA)
M. Kostyuk (UKR) / S. Zhang (CHN) vs [2] S. Hunter (AUS) / E. Mertens (BEL)
Centre Court
12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT: Mackenzie McDonald (USA) vs [WC] Milos Raonic (CAN)
Not before 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT: [16] Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) vs [2] Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
Not before 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT: [1] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs [15] Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
Andy Murray (GBR) vs [7] Jannik Sinner (ITA)
Grandstand
11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) vs [3] Casper Ruud (NOR)
[8] Taylor Fritz (USA) vs Alex de Minaur (AUS)
Not before 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT: [PR] G. Monfils (FRA) vs [LL] Aleksander Vukic (AUS)
Not before 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT: [12] Tommy Paul (USA) vs [Q] Marcos Giron (USA)
Court 1
11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT: J. Murray (GBR) / M. Venus (NZL) vs [4] R. Bopanna (IND) / M. Ebden (AUS)
[8] S. Gonzalez (MEX) / E. Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs [Alt] S. Doumbia (FRA) / F. Reboul (FRA)
Not Before 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT: [WC] N. Mahut (FRA) / V. Pospisil (CAN) vs [6] K. Krawietz (GER) / T. Puetz (GER)
[3] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR) vs S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL)
N. Lammons (USA) / J. Withrow (USA) vs M. Purcell (AUS) / A. Rublev
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