Rogers Cup/Cincinnati Preview

The Olympics is over, and the tours can now finally shift in full to the North American hard court season and the runup to the US Open.  True, there have been smaller tourneys in the US the last few weeks but now bigger names begin to arrive.  However, with the Olympics some of the biggest names are skipping the Rogers Cup and others may be fatigued, leaving the door wide open for a surprise winner, specifically on the men's side, where we have had 14 consecutive Masters won by a player ranked in the top 4.  I consider Tsonga and Del Potro among the contenders in Toronto with Federer and Nadal missing the tournament.  On the women's, only Serena is absent among top 10 players but she owned this part of the circuit last year and is the defending champion in the Rogers Cup.  Next week the players descend on Cincinnati to see who can really grab the momentum leading to New York.  I expect Federer, Nadal, and Serena all back there, and relatively rested, so it should be a good shootout.

Here are the players defending the big points this year:

Men
Rogers Cup:  Novak Djokovic (SRB) def. Mardy Fish (USA)
Cincinnati:  Andy Murray (GBR) def. Djokovic
Semifinalists:  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) and Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) - Rogers Cup, Tomas Berdych (CZE) and Fish - Cincinnati
Quarterfinalists:  Nicolas Almagro (ESP), Berdych, Gael Monfils (FRA), Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) - Rogers Cup, Roger Federer (SUI), Monfils, Rafael Nadal (ESP), Gilles Simon (FRA) - Cincinnati

Women
Rogers Cup:  Serena Williams (USA) def. Samantha Stosur (AUS)
Cincinnati:  Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
Semifinalists:  Victoria Azarenka (BLR) and Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) - Rogers Cup, Andrea Petkovic (GER), Vera Zvonareva (RUS) - Cincinnati
Quarterfinalists:  Petkovic, Lucie Safarova (CZE), Roberta Vinci (ITA), Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) - Rogers Cup, Daniela Hantuchova (SVK), Shuai Peng (CHN), Nadia Petrova (RUS), Stosur - Cincinnati

Players who reached the quarters at both tournaments:
-Djokovic (W/F)
-Fish (F/SF)
-Stosur (F/QF)
-Berdych (SF/QF)
-Petkovic (SF/QF)
-Monfils (QF/QF)

Players who are defending a big portion of their points the next two weeks:
-Fish, Monfils, Wawrinka, Jankovic, Petkovic, Voskoboeva, Peng

There were a few surprise quarterfinalists last year but not many surprise semifinalists.  It will be interesting to see if any of those "surprises" can make it back there or what new surprising quarterfinalists there will be especially given the fields in the Rogers Cup.  Sit back and enjoy the tennis.