Tournament Preview: Toronto and Cincinatti

Most of the top players will be in action the next weeks at the Cincinatti tournament and the Rogers Cup.  Some important seeding scenarios exist on the men's side especially with the #2 and #4 seeds up for grabs.  Federer and Djokovic could take the first step toward #2 spot in a potential semifinal matchup, while Soderling and Murray could potentially meet in the quarterfinals.  Soderling is in the driver seat for the #4 seed since he has no points to defend while Murray won the Rogers Cup last year.  It will also intriguing to see if Roddick can get enough wins to get back to #8 and get his own eighth of the draw.  On the women's side, the ladies side the top 4 are fairly far above the rest but each will try to go on a winning streak and find good form going into the US Open.  Azarenka and Kuznetsova look the best so far having won titles in Stanford and San Diego respectively.  Wozniacki also has a shot at the #2 seed with Jankovic having the Cincinatti title to defend.

Toronto:  Rogers Cup (Men)
Andy Murray is the defending champion having beaten Juan Martin Del Potro in the final.
Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the defending semifinalists.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, and Novak Djokovic made the quarterfinals a year ago.  In 2009, the top eight seeds of the tournament made the quarters.  Del Potro and Tsonga are not in the field due to injuries.

Potential quarterfinals:
1) Nadal vs. 8) Roddick
4) Murray vs. 5) Soderling
3) Federer vs. 7) Berdych
2) Djokovic vs. 6) Davydenko


Cincinatti (Women)
Jelena Jankovic is the defending champion having beaten Dinara Safina in the 2009 final.
Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta are the defending semifinalists.
Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki, Daniela Hantuchova, and Sybille Bammer having quarterfinal points to defend.
All eight of those players are in the draw (WOW!), but we have some potential matchups in the second round to knock some of them out:
2) Wozniacki vs Bammer/Cirstea
3) Dementieva vs Hantuchova/Pavlyuchenkova
4) Clijsters vs Safina/Vinci
11) Pennetta is also in 4) Clijsters quarter.

Potential quarterfinal matchups:
1) Jankovic vs. 5) Schiavone
4) Clijsters vs. 6) Zvonareva
3) Dementieva vs. 8) Li
2) Wozniacki vs. 7) Radwanska