Rogers Cup Wednesday – what to watch, see, do and look out for

MONTREAL –  There has been a lot to cheer for on the Canadian side of things so far in the Rogers Cup – and Milos Raonic has yet to take the court.

The top Canadian and recent Wimbledon finalist finally gets his tournament started tonight and even though it's Wednesday, he'll have plenty of company.

No. 1 men's seed Novak Djokovic and Olympic partner Nenad Zimonjic were shocked Tuesday by the pickup Canadian team of Philip Bester and Adil Shamasdin although Djokovic, who rarely plays doubles, certainly isn't nearly as comfortable in that format. Still, it was another very good win for the Canadian side.

The biggest question following Genie Bouchard's dramatic victory over Lucie Safarova Tuesday afternoon was whether the 22-year-old would recover enough to be at full strength to back it up when she faces No. 11 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the night session tonight.

It seems she will be; Bouchard suffered some stomach cramps during her doubles match later Tuesday – a combination of too many liquids hitting an already nervous stomach on a hot day, followed by some food between her singles and doubles that was probably necessary but didn't sit well as she went out and pushed it again an hour later. We're told Bouchard did eat well past midnight, and should be okay. She'll have the entire day to take it easy.

CANADIAN CONTENT

Toronto:

The schedule is loaded. First up on the smaller Court 1 will be wild cards Peter Polansky and Steven Diez, who posted upset wins in the first round and now will try to take on the crafty veteran Radek Stepanek and the phlegmatic Aussie Bernard Tomic, respectively.

After that, hit the Grandstand for some of Pospisil-Monfils and then, Toronto natives Milos Raonic (against Yen-Hsun Lu of Taipei) and new discovery Denis Shapovalov (against Grigor Dimitrov) will take over stadium court.

The original, on-paper matchup between Raonic and 19-year-old Alexander Zverev had much more potential, but the teenager had a long week in the draining heat in Washington, D.C. last week (and also sported a lot of tape around his right shoulder), so he didn't have much left once he arrived in Toronto.

For Shapovalov, he'll face another player with a one-handed backhand in the struggling Dimitrov, a top-10 player not too long ago and the subject of a whole lot of hype earlier in his career because of the stylistic similarities between his game and that of Roger Federer.

The Bulgarian has really been up against it this year – every since his romantic breakup with Maria Shapova, it seems, his karma has not been the best. But he remains a very good player and despite all the Shapovalov bandwagon taking on an overflow of new riders after his victory over Nick Kyrgios Monday, the 17-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont. will have his hands full.

The forecast high in Montreal is 30C, and the humidity means there are risks of thundershowers during the late afternoon and early evening. It's also going to be windy.

In Toronto, the forecast high is 31C with similar thunderstorm risks, but slightly lower. It also should be slightly less windy.

Montreal:

After Bouchard and Abanda posted wins on Tuesday (Aleksandra Wozniak gave former top-5 player Sara Errani a battle, but ultimately went down in two close sets), they will try to back up those wins today.

Abanda will play on the Court Banque Nationale against No. 17 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine – the opponent she was originally scheduled to meet before the withdrawal of Serena Williams resulted in a shuffling around of the seeded players in the draw.

MATCHES TO WATCH

Toronto:

Top seed Djokovic and No. 3 Kei Nishikori of Japan play their first singles matches in Toronto on the stadium court.

But if fans in Toronto aren't that concerned about the nationalities of the players and want to settle in on one court for a succession of high-quality matchups, they'd do well to take a seat in the Grandstand today and enjoy.

All four singles matches look interesting  and two of them feature clashes between countrymen. With the two Canadians, plus Djokovic and Nishikori, needing a centre-court slot, a must-see match between the flashy Gael Monfils and Canadian Vasek Pospisil was pushed back to the second court. It could well get started before the Canadian night-session doubleheader on the stadium court

Montreal:

No. 2 women's seed Angelique Kerber, No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 6 Venus Williams all make their 2016 Rogers Cup debuts today. And with Williams, 36, arriving late from her finals effort across the continent in California, it will be interesting to see how much energy she has.

Williams was at a local athletic club Monday evening after her arrival, and she took plenty of breaks on the practice court Tuesday morning. Williams has won all three of their meetings but the last two, in 2014 and 2015, were about as closely-contested as they could be.

Radwanska plays the unorthodox Monica Niculescu of Romania, who has a funky slice forehand unlike anyone else on either professional Tour. Radwanska herself is far from a cookie-cutter ball basher, so that match will be an oasis of unorthodoxy in a sea of hard hitters.

ON THE PRACTICE COURTS

Montreal:

Camila Giorgi (10-11 a.m., Court Banque Nationale)

Simona Halep (1:30 p.m., Court 2)

Eugenie Bouchard (4-5 p.m., Court 4)

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza: (Noon-1 p.m., Court 7)

Toronto:

Novak Djokovic (with Austin Krajicek, Centre court 10-10:45 a.m.)

Dominic Thiem and David Goffin (Grandstand, 10-10:45 a.m.)

Fabio Fognini (11:30 - 12:15 p.m., Court 2)

Daniel Nestor (12:15 - 1 p.m., Court 9)

Milos Raonic (2:30 - 4:45 p.m., Court 10. He won't practice nearly that long but hey, when you're the king, you can block out a big chunk of practice-court time)

OFF THE COURT

Autograph session: Casino Stage (Montreal), 2 p.m.

Cyberchat with the players: 5:15 p.m. at the Rogers booths in Montreal and Toronto

Beach tennis demonstration with the ATP players (5:30 p.m. in Toronto)

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 11 a.m. 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.

The fact that Raonic will be playing in Montreal while Bouchard plays in Toronto (the same thing happened last year, in reverse) is unfortunate. But it's optimal for Bouchard to get all the extra rest she can after a trying day Tuesday.

The Blue Jays will take over the main channels for an afternoon tilt, so the afternoon session for the men will be on Sportsnet 360, with Sportsnet1 kicking in on the women's side as 12:30 p.m. The other channels will join the Toronto matches at the conclusion of the baseball game.

But that afternoon game does allow Raonic and Shapovalov to be shown across the entire network with the exception of Sportsnet1, which will have Bouchard and Kerber in the Montreal evening session.

You can watch the Toronto matches (including Pospisil-Monfils) on the secondary Grandstand court online by clicking here.