Round three of women's singles in Rogers Cup will commence on Thursday in Montreal, Canada.
The previous round did not see any major upsets, except Canadian and one of the favourites to win the tournament, Eugenie Bouchard crashing out after losing to American Shelby Rogers.
Wednesday saw many big names such as Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Petra Kvitova feature in round two. They all, after emerging triumphant in round two, will compete on Thursday. All these players would undoubtedly love to put up a good performance before the all-important Grand Slam –the US Open.
Russia's Sharapova and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro will kick off the action in round three on Thursday. The Russian came into the tournament as one of the favourites, however, she had to struggle to register a victory in her match against another Spanish opponent, Garbine Muguruza.
Sharapova's start was far from assured as she lost the first set, which seemed to spur her into action as she gathered her composure. Thereafter she was in firm control of the match as she won 4-6,6-1,6-3.
"She played a very good first set, very aggressive, it was good to get this match," Montreal Gazette quoted Sharapova as saying.
Navarro had it pretty easy as she defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Next up is the top seed Serena taking on Lucie Safarova. The American who was dominant throughout the game against Samantha Stosur of Australia, ripped her opponent apart 6-0,6-2. Serena was ruthless as she did not even concede one break point. After her win in the Bank of the West Classic championship she seems to be in good form.
Victory came Safarova's way easily against Magdalena Rybarikova. Serena is the favourite here as she won all the 6 games against Safarova that she's played. She, however, appeared far from complacent as she had a word of praise for her opponent.
"She's an interesting player. She's extremely tricky. I don't know how I got to be 6-0 against her because she plays really well," the American said, according to Montreal Gazette.
Venus Williams later in the day will go up against Angelique Kerber of Germany. Both registered easy victories in their respective second round encounters.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will feature in round three against Rogers. Although Wozniacki is the favourite here, she can expect a tricky game as Rogers was the one who eliminated Bouchard. Wozniacki won 6-1, 6-2 against Klara Koukalova in her second encounter.
Kvitova will be seen in action against Ekaterina Makarova. Kvitova is undoubtedly the favourite here, although both the players triumphed in their second round games easily.
Here are the matches and timings [IST] for the women's singles today
1] Maria Sharapova vs Carla Suarez Navarro - August 7,9-30pm
2] Caroline Wozniacki vs Shelby Rogers - August 7,9-30pm
3] Serena Williams vs Lucie Safarova - August 7,11-30 pm
4] Ekaterina Makarova vs Petra Kvitova - August 7,11-30 pm
5] Jelena Jankovic vs Coco Vandeweghe - August 8, 1-30 am
6] Venus Williams vs Angelique Kerber - August 8,3-30 am
7] Victoria Azarenka vs Heather Watson - August 8,4-30 am
8] Sabine Lisicki vs Agnieszka Radwanska - August 8,5-30 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.
