Rogers Cup betting preview, free tennis tips & where to watch this week

Day one
Toronto starts 4pm Monday (BT Sport 1) Montreal starts 5pm Monday (Amazon Prime)

Rafael Nadal will be hoping for some easy pickings in the Rogers Cup on a week when his fellow Big Three members Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are resting, but the defending champion could have it tough in Montreal from the word go.

First up for Nadal is likely to be the hugely impressive Alex de Minaur, one of the quickest learners in the sport and victorious in Atlanta last month.

De Minaur could well make much more of a nuisance of himself on the Decoturf than was the case in his first two meetings with the Spaniard, who is ranked second in the world after retaining his French Open crown in June.

Nadal will probably find a way past the Australian but David Goffin, whose game is on the way back, or Gilles Simon could make the Majorcan pull out the stops in round three.

It could get even tougher for Nadal in round four, though, if the top seed is still standing at that point. Borna Coric, who turns 23 in November, returns after a short injury layoff and the Croat, who has beaten the Pearl of Manacor twice in his career, could be thoroughly refreshed for a good crack at the Montreal title.

In the bottom half of the draw, it may pay to chance Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian may not have been at his peak in Washington DC last week with his home city event on the horizon and we could see a much more spirited effort from the 18-year-old this time around.

Auger-Aliassime may be best placed of the younger brigade to trouble Djokovic, Nadal and Federer most in the coming seasons and that may start this week.

He's no better than 25-1 but with winnable tasks against one or two compatriots on the cards in the early rounds at the IGA Stadium, Auger-Aliassime could soon look value at such odds.

It could also be a boost for FA-A that second seed Dominic Thiem won the title in Kitzbuhel this weekend while Nick Kyrgios and Daniil Medvedev were busy battling it out for the Washington DC trophy.

In the women's singles, there may be support for Serena Williams to return to winning form in Toronto, but preference is for Ashleigh Barty to collect another piece of silverware.

The Aussie is a winning machine when she gets going and while she has already garnered the French Open crown in what could have proved her toughest major to win, she's even better on fast courts, especially hard ones.

Johanna Konta, Belinda Bencic and Karolina Pliskova, all seeds in Barty's top half of the draw, could struggle to live with the Queenslander, while in the bottom half of the draw second seed Naomi Osaka has been struggling since thrashing Williams in the US Open final last September.

Simona Halep returns after her brilliant Wimbledon triumph and the Romanian, a two-time Canadian Open champion, is a major player after reaching the final in three of the last four years.

But Halep may still be in dreamland and Barty, who may be more focused at York University, is preferred.

Recommendations
B Coric
1pt each-way 50-1 general
F Auger-Aliassime
1pt each-way 25-1 Betfred
A Barty
1pt 8-1general

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