TORONTO, Canada - After its traditional biennial visit to Montréal the $2,000,000 Rogers Cup returns to Toronto this year, boasting perhaps its most outstanding field ever. Nineteen of the Top 20 are present in the 56-player draw, including no fewer than eight players who have held the No.1 ranking, and four who have won this prestigious title before. Falling into both camps is a certain Kim Clijsters, who promises to steal her share of the limelight as she continues her comeback.
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The run of Dinara Safina to the Cincinnati final restored a measure of order to the upset-riddled Olympus US Open Series, but her loss to Jelena Jankovic keeps the intrigue alive, and as Flushing Meadows looms the Russian's rivals will be out to re-assert their claims. Indeed while Safina, the defending champion, can breathe a little easier in Toronto knowing her No.1 ranking is safe until at least the US Open, suddenly it is Serena Williams who has more to defend in the next month or so.
Like the other Top 8 seeds Serena, who defeated Jennifer Capriati for the Canadian title in 2001, enjoys a first round bye. But after that the No.2 seed's first opponent could be Daniela Hantuchova, a player she has beaten more often than not, but who has reached two quarterfinals in the past three weeks and is marching back towards the Top 20.
In Safina's half of the draw - and so unable to meet Serena before the final - No.3 seed Venus Williams plays a qualifier first up. In the same quarter, No.10 seed Nadia Petrova won't be thrilled to see she has drawn Maria Sharapova for the third time since the younger Russian's return to action in May; Sharapova has kept the upper hand so far.
Olympic champion Elena Dementieva is the fourth seed, and surely keen to forget the four match points she squandered against Jankovic in the semis at Cincinnati. Jankovic, who was runner-up to Justine Henin in Toronto two years ago, is playing with renewed confidence as the champion of Cincy and will be a dangerous fifth seed here.
French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova - one of Clijsters' victims last week - is seeded sixth while Vera Zvonareva continues her return from ankle injury as the No.7 seed. Caroline Wozniacki succumbed to Dementieva with surprising ease at Cincinnati but remains one of the form players of the season and is the No.8 seed.
Victoria Azarenka is seeded ninth, and could bump into Clijsters in the second round; Ana Ivanovic, the 2006 champion, is seeded 11th; and, as the seedings are based on last week's rankings, new Top 10 arrival Flavia Pennetta is the No.12 seed.
No.13 seed Agnieszka Radwanska faces a potentially tricky opener against Spain's Carla Suárez Navarro on day one while Stanford champion and No.14 seed Marion Bartoli faces Alona Bondarenko. Two-time champion Amélie Mauresmo (2002, 2004) is the No.15 seed, and plays her first match of the North American hardcourt season against Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
Last year's runner-up, Dominika Cibulkova, returns as the No.16 seed. Since busting through to her first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros the vivacious 20-year-old Slovak has gone a little flat; not helped by nagging leg injuries she hasn't won a match on this hardcourt swing and if she is to meet Safina again this year it will be in the third round.
As well as Clijsters, wildcards have been awarded to Canadians Stéphanie Dubois and Valérie Tétreault.
Co-world No.1s Cara Black and Liezel Huber are the top seeds in the doubles.
