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Can anyone stop Serena Williams at the Rogers Cup?

Can anyone stop Serena Williams at the Rogers Cup?

The qualifiers are finished and now it’s time to get down to business.

The Rogers Cup main draw begins Monday and 16 of the top 17 women’s tennis players are in Toronto attempting to win one of the most important non-Grand Slam events.With the first ball about to be hit, here’s what you need to know about the third-oldest tournament in the world.

The Favourite: Serena Williams

Umm, you were expecting someone else?

There is simply no one that can beat Williams when she’s on her game. Oh, and that’s been a common theme this season. The veteran American holds a 40-1 record in WTA events this season and has claimed the first three majors. She has double the amount of WTA points than No. 2 Maria Sharapova, who won’t be in Toronto because of a leg injury.

Williams has also won three times in Toronto over her illustrious career, including the last two times the tournament was played at York University (2011 and 2013).

The Main Challengers: Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska

ozniacki hasn’t played since Wimbledon where she fell in the final to eventual finalist Garbine Muguruza. Still, the former No. 1 and fourth seed presents Serena Williams’s greatest challenge on her half of the draw. They could meet in the semifinals.

On the bottom half, Kvitova, the 2014 Wimbledon champ, is the only player to knock off Williams this season. Kvitova beat her in straight sets in Madrid in May.

Halep only has one win in the last two Grand Slam tournaments. However, she and Radwanska, seeded No. 2 and No. 6 respectively, are tough competitors. They are slated to meet in the quarter-finals with the winner potentially getting a crack at Kvitova.

The Ones to Watch: Eugenie Bouchard, Karolina Pliskova, Angelique Kerber, Sloane Stephens

Because this is the Canadian championship, the spotlight shines directly on Bouchard. So how will she handle the pressure?

She certainly didn’t handle it well last year in Montreal. Bouchard was practically begging to leave the court as she lost in three sets to American Shelby Rogers, while on the receiving end of two bagels. Very little has gone right for the current queen of Canadian since then. Although she reached the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, Bouchard began working with coach Sam Sumyk thereafter. She won just four of 17 matches before splitting with Sumyk on Thursday.

Bouchard has a tough road ahead as she returns from a torn abdominal muscle that has hampered her since Wimbledon. She plays No. 22 Belinda Bencic and a win would pit her against Wozniacki. Meanwhile, Pliskova and Kerber just reached the final in Stanford on Sunday, while Stephens, a promising American, won her first WTA title in Washington.

The Canadians: Bouchard, Francoise Abanda, Gabriela Dabrowski, Carol Zhao

None of the six Canadians in the qualification round made it through. But Abanda, Dabrowski and Zhao all received wild-card entries. Abanda is a product of the Tennis Canada’s National Training Centre. She has nine wins on the Futures Tour this season, plus one in Fed Cup action over Belgium’s Irina-Camelia Begu. Dabrowski and Zhao were the doubles champions at the Pan Am Games last month.