Five Things We Learned from Day 5 of the Rogers Cup

The panel breaks down Bianca Andreescu's victory in the quarterfinals over Karolina Pliskova, and tees up the semifinals match against Sofia Kenin in Rogers Cup action.

It was quarterfinals day at the Rogers Cup in both Toronto and Montreal on Friday with top names such as Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Canadian Bianca Andreescu all in action.

Here’s five things we learned from Day 5 at the Rogers Cup.

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Andreescu guts through injury scare

Bianca Andreescu’s remarkable Rogers Cup run is living to see at least one more day.

About 24 hours after she upset No. 5 ranked Kiki Betens, the Thornhill, Ont., native added world No. 3, and former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova to her list in Toronto this week.

In true Andreescu-at-the-2019-Rogers-Cup fashion, she went the full three sets, her fourth-straight match to go the distance that’s now seen her spend in excess of 10 hours on the court this week.

Even more impressive is Andreescu managed to beat Pliskova after an injury scare that forced her to take a medical timeout to tape up her right thigh. The injury had her grimacing and wincing seemingly after every point played when she returned late in the second set.

Had it not been for the injury, there’s a chance Andreescu could’ve given herself something of a rest as she absolutely crushed Pliskova in the first set, taking it 6-0 in just 29 minutes, pouncing on a surprisingly shaky-looking Pliskova serve.

In the second set though, the Czech star re-found her game and, injury scare from Andreescu or not, played as dominant of a second set as the first one she was just victim of, taking that one 6-2.

But Andreescu wouldn’t be denied. Gritting her teeth through the pain, she continued to hold serve and waited for her opportunity and found it with the third set tied 4-4 and Pliskova on serve. The Canadian forced a long rally with two break points and caused Pliskova to make an unforced error to position Andreescu to serve out the match.

Andreescu will now get to play for a shot at her home tournament’s final against American Sofia Kenin, who’s had just about as fun of a run to the semis as Andreescu (more on this later).

Serena gets some U.S. Open revenge

Naomi Osaka became a bona fide star with a thrilling straight-sets victory over Serena Williams, her childhood idol, at the 2018 U.S. Open.

It didn’t stop there, as the 21-year-old Osaka continued to rise with an Australian Open title at the beginning of the year and, now, a return to the No. 1 world rankings next week aided by the premature defeats of Pliskova and Ashleigh Barty this week.

Osaka is rightfully the best women’s tennis player in the world and could conceivably be for a long time.

And while all this may true, there’s a big difference between being the best right now and one of the best ever. On Friday night, Williams showed Osaka what the latter means.

In their first matchup since that world-changing victory in New York last year, Williams ran a service-game clinic on Osaka, defeating the new No. 1 6-3, 6-4, smashing home 12 aces – including the match-deciding point – and winning 82 per cent of her first-serve points.

In beating Osaka, it feels like it was a big deal for Williams because this was the third meeting between the two – Osaka first played Williams at the 2018 Miami Open – but was the first time Williams even took a set off the Japanese pro.

Given Osaka’s career arc so far, a loss to Williams seems like it’s more of a minor setback as she continues to tune up for a U.S. Open title defence. For Williams though, revenge had to have felt pretty sweet.

Nadal-Fognini continue their rivalry in Montreal

Rafael Nadal has been involved in some epic rivalries over the years: Rafa vs. Federer, Rafa vs. Djokovic, Rafa vs. Murray, etc.

These are the matches that will stand out most when his illustrious career eventually comes to an end.

There’s one other more understated rivalry, however, that in many ways has defined Nadal’s career as much as any other one you can list: Rafa vs. Fabio Fognini.

Though Nadal very clearly is the leader in this particular head-to-head competition, it’s worth noting Fognini has beaten Nadal four times, including this year in Monte Carlo – on clay, no less.

Meeting for the 16th time in their careers, it was apparent in the early goings just how Fognini has managed to get the better of Nadal at times over the years. Using punishing and deceptively hard ground strokes, Fognini managed to rock Nadal off-kilter in the first set as he took it with ease, 6-2.

Unfortunately for the 32-year-old Italian, a combination of Nadal re-finding his game and apparent ankle and Achilles problems in his right foot, as reported by Sportsnet’s Arash Madani during the broadcast, caused Fognini to lose the sharp focus he used to take the first set. He would go down easily in the subsequent second and third frames as Nadal rolled into the Rogers Cup semis 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Cinderella clash

Andreescu’s win over Pliskova will be the match anyone in Canada will be talking about on Friday.

But Kenin, whom Andreescu will meet in the semifinal, has had a run that basically matches the Canadian’s so far, including a big victory of her own on Friday.

Defeating world No. 6 Elina Svitolina in straight sets, Kenin’s gauntlet included Barty in a three-setter that saw Kenin take control of the final two sets.

It’s pretty fitting Kenin and Andreescu will meet in the semis given how similar their road has been this week and because of how closely matched they appear with Andreescu being ranked No. 27 and 19 years old, and Kenin, at only 20 years of age, being the world No. 29.

Both have are compelling stories, but something tells us the Toronto crowd will be hoping the clock strikes midnight on Kenin’s tale before Andreescu’s.

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Biggest tournament underdog through to the semis

World No. 91 Marie Bouzkova continued her incredible Rogers Cup run after making it through to the semifinals following 2019 Wimbledon winner Simona Halep retiring after one set.

Not to take anything away from Bouzkova, as she won that first set 6-4 and had to beat some stiff competition to just reach the quarters, including Sloane Stephens and Jelena Ostapenko.

Next up for Bouzkova will be Williams, a three-time Rogers Cup champion.

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