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Canadians headline first three days of Toronto's Rogers Cup

Canadians headline first three days of Toronto's Rogers Cup

TORONTO — The opening three nights of Toronto’s Rogers Cup will be a Canadian tennis showcase — or at least that’s what event organizers are hoping with the scheduling of back-to-back-to-back Canucks on the Aviva Centre’s main stage Monday through Wednesday.

As the only Canadian stop of the ATP Tour, organizers at the Rogers Cup look to highlight the hometown contingent at the event each year — and this time around is no different. In this year's case, a bona fide star such as Milos Raonic, a veteran like Frank Dancevic and an exciting youngster like Denis Shapovalov each get a chance to step into the spotlight, at least for one night.

Off the top, 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov will make his Rogers Cup debut on Monday night on Centre Court. According to tournament director Karl Hale, Shapovalov requested to be on Centre Court, as he’s not afraid of the big stage, Hale said.

The luck of the draw also fell in the tournament’s favour as Shapovalov, the Wimbledon boys’ singles champion, is set to face off against the always entertaining Nick Kyrgios, from Australia.

Following that match, Niagara Falls’ Frank Dancevic will meet American Sam Querrey, who you may or may not have heard beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic recently at some major event. That match will also mark Dancevic’s 14th Rogers Cup appearance.

Tuesday evening will see Vasek Pospisil take on France’s Jeremy Chardy in the 7 p.m. match on Centre Court. The two have never played prior, but Pospisil is looking to reverse the trend of a tough season he’s had thus far, starting here at the Rogers Cup.

Finally, Milos Raonic, who as the fourth seed gets a bye into the second round, will likely play 19-year-old Alexander Zverev on Wednesday evening in his second-round match. The tournament is already heavily promoting the Raonic match on its website and is asking fans attending to come dressed in red and white.

Despite the disappointment of a number of high-profile withdrawals, Hale is happy with the way the Canadian portion of the tournament shook out over the first few days.

“It’s actually really exciting matches. You have the junior Wimbledon champion Denis playing Nick Kyrgios, one of the young up-and-coming stars,” he said. “Then potentially you’re going to have Milos playing against Zverev, who’s a future No. 1, projected to be, so the match-ups are very exciting for us.”

Of course, Canadians taking over the evening slots means scheduling Djokovic during Wednesday’s day session. Typically the day session is harder to sell out, presumably because it occurs during the usual workday. Putting the best player in the world on Centre Court Wednesday afternoon could potentially move the dial on ticket sales.

While the event has spread the spotlight around, Raonic still remains the best chance for a Canadian to win the title. To do that, however, Raonic would need to take out Djokovic in the semifinal on Saturday, if both indeed advance that far. Nevertheless, the tournament would surely hope that like the start of the week, the end is also a showcase of Canadian tennis talent.

OF NOTE:

Canada went 2-0 in their day session matches on Monday at the Rogers Cup. First, Steven Diez topped No. 84 Kyle Edmund, of Great Britain, in three sets, winning it 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. As an encore, Peter Polansky won his match on Court 1 as well, beating USA's Tim Smyczek 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.