Toronto Preview: The U.S. Open sprint, and the race for No. 1, are on

While there are high-profile absences among the men in Montreal, the top women, aside from Serena Williams, are all present and accounted for in Toronto. The tournament marks the start of two races: The first is for the U.S. Open title; the second is for the year-end No. 1 ranking. The top two seeds, Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep, are neck and neck; No. 3, Angelique Kerber, knows how to win big events; No. 4, Garbiñe Muguruza, is obviously coming on strong; and No. 9, Venus Williams, has already been to two major finals in 2017. Let’s see who might get out of the blocks fastest in Canada.

Pliskova has been pointing toward the North American hard-court season, and the Open in particular, all year. It’s a good thing she is, because she has a lot on the line; in 2016 she won the title in Cincinnati and reached the final at Flushing Meadows. Pliskova can’t afford a slip-up in either place, which means she’s going to want to shrug off her early loss at Wimbledon as quickly as she can. But it might not be so easy; in Toronto she’ll start against either Anastasia Payluchenkova or Alizé Cornet, neither of whom is a pushover.

Also in this quarter: Caroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Coco Vandeweghe

First-round match to watch: Radwanska vs. Vandeweghe

Semifinalist: Pliskova

What can we expect from Kerber in the second half of 2017? She was at her best during the summer hard-court swing last year, winning the Open and reaching the final in Cincinnati and at the Rio Olympics. Considering that she has yet to match her form from 2016, or even win a title, it may be hard to imagine that she’s going to start doing it now. But Kerber has made fast turnarounds before, and she was close to beating the eventual champ, Muguruza, at Wimbledon. In Toronto, Kerber is slated to play Eugenie Bouchard, Petra Kvitova and Johanna Konta to reach the semifinals.

Speaking of Konta, how will her dizzying run of fame during Wimbledon affect her? We know the Miami champ likes North American hard courts. She’ll start against either Shuai Peng or Ekaterina Makarova, who reached the final in D.C. on Sunday.

Semifinalist: Kerber

Muguruza is the WTA’s biggest question mark of the moment. Can she avoid another post-Slam crash, like the ones she suffered after her title-winning and runner-up runs at the French Open and Wimbledon the last two years? The evidence from her first North American event is inconclusive. She reached the semifinals in Stanford, but put up very little resistance against Madison Keys once she got there. In Toronto, she’s scheduled to play Ana Konjuh, Elena Vesnina and Elina Svitolina to reach the semis.

Muguruza could also face the woman she played in the Wimbledon final, Venus Williams. Venus reached the Rogers Cup final in 2014, and she might have a third-round date with Svitolina this time. Venus won their only meeting, two years ago in Rome.

Semifinalist: V. Williams

Halep, the No. 2 seed, won this tournament when it was in Montreal last year, and reached the final two years ago in Toronto. She also has a lot to play for right now: She likes this time of year, she has a chance to become No. 1 for the first time and she must feel that, with Serena missing for one more major, this could be her last best chance to win one.

The only problem for Halep is her draw. If form holds, she’ll have to beat an unseeded Keys, who looked sharp in Stanford this past week, in her opener; Kristina Mladenovic in her second match; and either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Jelena Ostapenko in the quarters.

First-round matches to watch: Julia Goerges vs. CiCi Bellis

Keys vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni

Mladenovic vs. Barbora Strycova

Semifinalist: Halep

Semifinals:Kerber d. Pliskova; Halep d. V. Williams

Final: Halep d. Kerber

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