Rogers Cup Friday - What to see, do, watch and look out for

MONTREAL –   As Genie Bouchard tumbled out of the Rogers Cup Thursday, along with No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska and the popular Venus Williams, the energy around the Montreal edition sort of went ...pfffffffft.

And in the end, one of the semi-finalists will be either Johanna Konta of Great Britain or qualifier Kristina Kucova, who defeated Bouchard. That only serves to underscore what a great opportunity Bouchard's nerves caused her to miss. It also has proven a golden opportunity for young American Madison Keys (who defeated a diminished Williams) has to get to the final.

On the other side of the draw, a semi-final between Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber, seeded No. 5 and No.2, would be the best outcome but those are not done deals; Kerber, who is not 100 per cent healthy, somehow managed to escape a match she seemed on the way to losing against Elina Svitolina, but she may not have much left.

In Toronto, the draw has turned out to be extremely top heavy, and a great opportunity for No. 2 seed Stan Wawrinka in the bottom half.

CANADIAN CONTENT

Toronto:

MIlos Raonic has a very tough task Friday as he goes up against No. 10 seed Gaël Monfils, who is having one of the best tennis stretches of his life. Raonic defeated the flashy Frenchman fairly routinely when they met in the Australian Open quarter-finals but Monfils is coming off the best tournament title of his career last week in Washington. His body has often failed him in the weeks following a big result but he appears to be just building his momentum so far in Toronto. The big question will be if he suffers any residual effects from a gruelling three-set win over No. 7 seed David Goffin Thursday.

Raonic, on the other hand, has breezed through a couple of matches, outclassing both lower-ranked opponents. This will be his first true test.

Also on tap is a quarter-final match for Olympians Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor, who survived the inspired tennis – and immature antics – of Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios in a late-evening doubles match Thursday that was cut short by rain at the beginning of the second set. During the delay, Sock withdrew with an injury; they will play the Czech team of Berdych and Radek Stepanek tonight in what should be a entertaining clash.

Montreal:

The Canadian content is gone, so it will be up to the crowd to adopt a new player for the rest of the event. It might be Kucova, whose emotional response to her victory over Bouchard was met with a lot of sympathy from the remaining crowd late last night. Except, of course, that she defeated the homegirl.

There's a good chance – judging by the support the Romanian team received when it was in the city for Davis Cup a year ago – that the crowd support could get behind their countrywoman, Halep. They will show up in good numbers to cheer her on today.

MATCHES TO WATCH

Toronto:

As quarter-final matchups outside a Grand Slam, No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 5 Tomas Berdych and Raonic vs. Monfils are of ridiculously high quality. That's a top-flight night session and with Raonic playing second, you would hope the notoriously early-leaving crowd will go against its patterns and actually hang in there all the way.

This is also an encouraging tournament for Grigor Dimitrov, for whom nothing has gone right this season. The former top 10 player, once hailed as a Roger Federer successor because of their stylistic similarities, has sunk to such a point that 17-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who was completely unknown to the average Canadian tennis fan until a couple of weeks ago, was expected to defeat him easily in their second-round match (it didn't happen, although it was highly competitive).

DImitrov faces Kei Nishikori of Japan, whose body has betrayed him somewhat as mid-career ennui is setting in a little bit.

Montreal:

The first match on tap (12:30 p.m.) could be the closest of the day as Halep takes on Kuznetsova. The 31-year-old Russian, who has US Open and French Open titles on her resumé, has found some good form heading into the Olympics.

For Madison Keys, who opens the night session against No. 16 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, it's a great opportunity. She had all kinds of trouble defeating Williams Thursday even though her countrywoman clearly had physical issues that caused her to barely set the radar gun off with her serve.

Also noteworthy is that six of the eight remaining teams in the doubles are that rare breed – two players from the same country teaming up. Not all of the teams will play in Rio but many wiil. The first match on Court Banque Nationale featuring Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina against Aussies Daria Gavrilova and Samantha Stosur, could well be an Olympic preview.

THE WEATHER

A mix of sun and cloud today in both Montreal and Toronto, with the humidity higher in Montreal. It will be windier in Toronto, which might have an effect on play. If you're going, bring your sunscreen.

ON TV

Rogers Sportsnet in English and TVA Sports in French have taken over the entire week's coverage of the tournament (formerly, the CBC/Radio-Canada had it on the last three days).

They're on from 12:30 p.m. today and again at 6:30 p.m. for the night session, on all of their channels although the men take over the main channels most of the time, with the women restricted to Sportsnet1.

With the Blue Jays playing the Orioles, the Toronto evening session will be only on Sportsnet 360, with the women on Sportsnet 1 all day.

You can watch the Toronto doubles matches on the secondary Grandstand court online by clicking here.