Tennis Canada announced the doubles draw for Rogers Cup presented by National Bank on Sunday. Canada’s Leylah Annie Fernandez will team up with Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in what promises to be a thrilling pairing.
The 16 year old from Laval, Quebec was recently crowned Junior French Open champion and won her first professional title. Now, she will team up with the world No. 4 in front of a home crowd at Sobeys Stadium. Fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard will join forces with compatriot Sharon Fichman, while Gabriela Dabrowski will have her eyes on glory alongside regular doubles partner Xu Yifan (No. 2).
Czech duo Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova are the No. 1 seeds and will look to affirm their status as one of the best year-round doubles teams on tour this week in Toronto. Looming in their section are dubs specialists Latisha and Hao-Ching Chan, sisters from Taipei who have rejoined forced after a few years hiatus.
Recent Wimbledon doubles champ Hsieh Su-Wei teams up with a new partner in Toronto, Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens. The duo are seeded fourth and could have their hands full in the quarter-finals with current singles World No. 1 Ash Barty and former singles World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. The Australian-Belarusian duo are teaming up for the first time this year to marked success, claiming the title in Rome and compiling a 14-3 record as a team.
Other great doubles teams to keep an eye on are Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, who have recent seen great singles success after suspending their doubles partnership following an appearance at the WTA Finals two years ago. They’re reunited in Toronto, however, and will kick off their campaign against Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Additionally, Timea Babos and Anett Kontaveit make up an interesting new doubles pairing, while crafty counterpunchers Sofia Kenin and Sevastova are sure to drive opponents crazy with their combined craftiness.
Check out our complete doubles draw here.
