Round one of the women's singles of the Rogers Cup commences on Monday at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada.
The tournament will feature the likes of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki and 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
The match between Sara Errani and Sabine Lisicki kicks off the action for the ladies. Lisicki would be remembered for making it to the Wimbledon final in 2013, where Marion Bartoli beat her in straight sets.
Lisicki has participated in the Rogers Cup before in both singles and doubles. In 2012, she reached the second round in the singles and the quarterfinals in the doubles. Recently, she was in the news as at 131 kilometres, she created a record for the fastest serve for women.
Errani is the number 13 seed in this year's edition of the Rogers Cup. The 2014 Wimbledon doubles crown came her and partner Roberta Vinci's way. In the Rogers Cup, she got to the quarters in singles. Interestingly, Errani beat Lisicki in the French Open last year.
The first day of the women's singles will also see Lucie Safarova, the number 15 seed, take on Sorana Cirstea. It was in this year's Wimbledon that the world sat up and took notice of Safarova as she reached the semifinals.
Cirstea will hope to come up with a surprise win against Safarova. Her best performance till date is reaching the French Open quarterfinals in 2009. Both these players have met each other four times, with Safarova winning thrice.
Number 10 seed Dominika Cibulkova will feature in the opening day of the women's singles also. Her opponent will be 17-year-old Francoise Abanda. Cibulkova, with four singles titles, goes into the game as the firm favourite. Cibulkova beat Sharapova in this year's Australian Open. An easy victory is what Cibulkova would be hoping for whereas Abanda would look to fight as hard as possible and cause an upset.
Number 14 seed Flavia Pennetta will also be in action against Yulia Putintseva .The Italian is the hot favourite here. She triumphed in Indian Wells in 2014. Furthermore, she also reached the quarterfinals of this year's Australian Open. Putintseva lacks experience but will hope for a surprise win.
Here are the matches and the timings [IST] for the women's singles today
1] Sara Errani vs Sabine. Lisicki August 4, 9-30pm
2] Roberta Vinci vs Barbora Zahlavova August 4, 9-30pm
3] Klara Koukalova vs Kiki Bertens August 4, 10-30pm
4] Heather Watson vs Tereza Smitková August 4, 11-30pm
5] Alizé Cornet vs Lauren Davis August 4, 11-30pm
6] Ajla Tomljanović vs Shelby Rogers August 5 , 12-30 am
7] Lucie Safarova vs Sorana Cirstea August 5 , 1-30 am
8] Alison Riske vs Magdaléna Rybáriková August 5 ,2-30 am
9] Dominika Cibulkova vs Francoise Abanda August 5, 3-30 am
10] Flavia Pennetta vs Yulia Putintseva August 5, 4-30 am
11] Aleksandra Wozniak vs Sloane Stephens August 5, 5-30 am
Where to Watch Live
The day's action is scheduled for an 8:30 pm IST (11:00 am ET, 4:00 pm BST and 3:00 pm GMT) start with live coverage on Star Sports in India and live streaming option HERE. Rogers Cup will also be streamed live HERE and HERE or catch the live updates HERE.
Sportsnet will telecast the matches live in Canada with live streaming option HERE or listen to the action live online HERE. ESPN 2 will telecast the matches live in the United States with an online streaming option HERE. In South Africa and sub-Sahara region the tournament will be available live on Super Sport with live online viewing option HERE.
