MATCH POINTS

Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu play each other for the first time today. Williams is bidding for her fourth Rogers Cup title, having also won in Toronto in 2001, 2011, 2013, beating Jennifer Capriati, Samantha Stosur and Sorana Cirstea in those finals respectively.

Bianca Andreescu is seeking to become the first home winner of the Rogers Cup since Faye Urban defeated Vicki Berner in an all-Canadian final in 1969, and the third home champion this season following Madison Keys in Charleston, Anastasija Sevastova in Jurmala and Jessica Pegula in Washington. Andreescu, who had played just one event between Miami and Toronto due to a shoulder injury, has not lost a finished match since falling to Sofia Kenin in the Acapulco semifinals at the start of March; she has won two of the five tournaments she has completed so far in 2019 and owns a 37-4 win-loss record for the season.

Williams is going for her first title following her return from maternity leave in March 2018, having lost all three finals she has made since coming back. The former World No.1's last trophy came at the 2017 Australian Open, her 23rd Grand Slam crown, and her last non-Slam title was Rome in 2016. Williams's win-loss record this year is 19-4.

19-year-old Andreescu is the eighth teenage Rogers Cup finalist this century. In 2000, a 19-year-old Martina Hingis defeated an 18-year-old Serena Williams for the title; the following year, a 19-year-old Williams captured her first trophy here, beating Jennifer Capriati in the final. In 2003, 19-year-old Lina Krasnoroutskaya was runner-up to Justine Henin; in 2006, 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic defeated Martina Hingis in the final; in 2008, 19-year-old Dominika Cibulkova was runner-up to Dinara Safina; and in 2015, 18-year-old Belinda Bencic beat Simona Halep to become champion.

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Williams owns a 72-23 record in finals, and her current three-final losing streak is the longest of her career, and just the third time that she has lost consecutive title matches (the others being Wimbledon/Los Angeles in 2004 and the Australian Open/Indian Wells in 2016). Andreescu is 1-1 in finals, both this year, losing to Julia Goerges in Auckland and defeating Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.

Indian Wells champion Andreescu is bidding to become the first teenager to win multiple WTA titles at Premier 5 level or above; the previous youngest player to do so was Caroline Wozniacki after winning Montréal, Tokyo and Beijing in 2010 at the age of 20. Prior to the inception of the current WTA Tour categories in 2009, the last teenager to win multiple titles at Tier I level or above was Ana Ivanovic, who won Berlin in 2007 at the age of 18 and Indian Wells and Roland Garros in 2008 at the age of 19.

Williams is guaranteed to rise to World No.8 next week, the highest ranking of her post-maternity leave career, whether she wins or loses the final. Andreescu will become the third player to crack the Top 20 for the first time in 2019 (following Marketa Vondrousova and Petra Martic), rising to World No.19 with a loss and World No.14 with a title; as recently as last October, the Canadian was ranked World No.243.

In the doubles final, both teams will be going for their first title of the season. Former World No.1s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have not won a trophy since Wimbledon last year, having lost their only 2019 final in Indian Wells to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka, while Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs are 0-3 in finals together this year, having fallen at the last hurdle in Doha (to Hao-Ching and Latisha Chan), Rome (to Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty) and Birmingham (to Hsieh Su-Wei and Barbora Strycova).

ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE COURT (starts 1.30pm)
Bianca ANDREESCU (CAN) vs [8] Serena WILLIAMS (USA)
[1] Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) / Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE) vs [3] Anna-Lena GROENEFELD (GER) / Demi SCHUURS (NED)