Montreal Rogers Cup draw sets up women's Wimbledon final rematch

A rematch of the Wimbledon final is already on the horizon at this year's Rogers Cup in Montreal.

American Serena Williams could face Angelique Kerber of Germany as early as the second round following the women's draw on Friday.

New mom Williams, who got a wild card for the Rogers Cup, would need to beat 34th-ranked Alize Cornet of France in the first round to make that matchup possible. The 30-year-old Kerber, who has a first-round bye, beat the 23-time major champion Williams in the Wimbledon final last month.

"Serena playing Alize Cornet in the first round, I know Serena will consider that a difficult match," said Rogers Cup tournament director Eugene Lapierre. "Cornet loves challenges like that. But if Serena wins, there's your Wimbledon final all over again.

"This already feels like the second round of a Grand Slam."

Friday's draw was particularly good for the Canadians in the tournament, including Montreal's Eugenie Bouchard (ranked No. 123 in the world).

Bouchard has favourable draw

The Westmount, Que., native avoided a top-10 player for at least the first two rounds.

She faces 15th-ranked Elise Mertens of Belgium in the first round, which will likely take place Monday at the newly named IGA Stadium. Bouchard would face either Shuai Zhang of China (No. 32) or a qualifier in the second round.

Bouchard's half of the table does not have Serena or Venus Williams, Kerber, Maria Sharapova or world No. 1 Simona Halep.

The Canadian, who may be dealing with a thigh injury, will be looking for better results at the Rogers Cup. She's 5-10 all-time on home soil. Her best result was two years ago when she made it to the quarter-finals.

"Mertens is a good challenge for Bouchard," said Lapierre. "She's having a good year, but I think Bouchard will be relatively happy with today's draw. She's in the bottom half of the draw. A good first-round match could give her a lot of momentum."

Bouchard, who's making her 11th appearance at the Rogers Cup, is one of three Canadians in the main draw. There are also five Canadians in the qualifying rounds, which begin Saturday.

Like Bouchard, Carol Zhao (No. 138 in the world) and Francoise Abanda (No. 193) were granted a wild card in the main draw.

Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., will face Kiki Bertens (No. 18) of the Netherlands in the first round while Montrealer Abanda plays against a qualifier.

Abanda bumped to main draw

Abanda, who was initially given a wild card to the qualifying session, was bumped up to the main draw Friday after Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., withdrew with a back injury.

"The world's luckiest player today is Francoise Abanda," said Lapierre. "She's in the main draw and now she's playing a qualifier in the first round. We'll have to see Sunday who she plays exactly."

The Romanian Halep, who was on hand at Friday's draw, won the last time the women's tournament was held in Montreal two years ago.

The 26-year-old has a first-round bye. She could face 14th-ranked Venus Williams in the third round.

"I have great memories from two years ago, winning the singles and playing the finals in doubles," said Halep. "Every time I'm in Canada, especially here, I play good tennis. I'm looking forward to starting the tournament and trying to give my best."

Other first-round highlights include Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (No. 108) against France's Kristina Mladenovic (No. 57) while Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko (No. 11) takes on Great Britain's Johanna Konta (No. 58).

Two Americans withdrew from the competition Friday due to injury: 12th-ranked Madison Keys (wrist) and 19th-ranked CoCo Vandeweghe (ankle).

Shapo, Raonic on opposite sides

Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic wound up on opposite sides of the men's draw at the Rogers Cup on Friday.

Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., will face France's Jeremy Chardy in the tournament's first round at the Aviva Centre on York University's campus.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., will take on 10th seed David Goffin of Belgium.

Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil is in the same bracket as Shapovalov and will face Croatia's Borna Coric.

Peter Polansky of Thornhill will play Australia's Matthew Ebden, and promising teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal takes on 19th seed Lucas Pouille of France.

Other first round highlights include Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka facing 16th seed Nick Kyrgios. Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam winner who is coming back from two operations on his left knee, was originally given a wild-card into qualifying but was advanced to the main draw when former world No. 1 Andy Murray withdrew.