Ready? Play. Main draw action kicks off in Montreal with a brilliant order of play.
6:27 p.m. ET – Azarenka gets it done against Linette
Right in the nick of time! After multiple rain delays, Azarenka cruises through the second set against fellow 2023 Australian Open semi-finalist Linette, dispatching the Pole 6-3, 6-0 to close out the day session.
Although it's looking like more rain is on the way later today, things are looking good for the start of Monday's night session featuring Venus Williams and Madison Keys.
5:01 p.m. ET – Rain.
More rain. That's about it. 😭
2:49 p.m. ET – Pliskova powers past Zhu, Bouzkova downs Day
Despite the second-set tiebreak blip after the rain delay, 2021 Montreal runner-up Pliskova had nothing to sweat. She regroups in the third to take down Zhu, snapping a six-match losing streak (in completed matches) and setting up a showdown with World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the second round..
Meanwhile on Court 5, Marie Bouzkova – a semi-finalist at the Toronto event back in 2019 (l. Serena Williams) – managed to counterpunch her way against lefty American Kayla Day 7-6(1), 6-3 and will face Caroline Garcia in the Frenchwoman's opener later this week.
2:28 p.m. ET – And... we're back.
After a roughly hour-and-a-half-long rain delay, players are back on court in Montreal and picking up where they left off.
The timing couldn't have been worse for Pliskova, who dropped the first two points after resuming her match against Zhu and with them – the set. She's built a healthy lead in the third, however, and looks to be in shape to reach the next round.
Meanwhile on Court Central, Azarenka picked up where she left off against Linette to storm out to an early first-set lead.
12:59 p.m. ET – We have our first winner! And our first rain drop.
The good news: Jasmine Paolini is the first player to win a match in Montreal, taking out Donna Vekic 7-6(3), 6-2 to advance to the second round.
The bad news: We're getting our first dose of rain on Monday, with Victoria Azarenka and Magda Linette playing three games on Court Central before being forced to leave. Even tougher? Zhu Lin and Karolina Pliskova were locked at 8-all in the second-set tiebreak before the rain started.
11:00 a.m. ET – When Montreal's National Bank Open draw came out, we all knew we were in for something special. Nearly every first-round clash is one to watch at Stade IGA, so it's safe to say that today's match schedule is absolutely loaded with quality.
And don't forget to watch this space for match updates & looks around the grounds throughout the day!
COURT CENTRAL starts at 12:30 PM
[16] V. Azarenka vs M. Linette (POL)
J. Brady (USA) vs J. Ostapenko (LAT)
NB 7:00 PM [WC] V. Williams (USA) vs [13] M. Keys (USA)
[Q] K. Boulter (GBR) vs [WC] R. Marino (CAN)
COURT ROGERS starts at 11:00 AM
L. Zhu (CHN) vs K. Pliskova (CZE)
L. Bronzetti (ITA) vs [12] B. Bencic (SUI)
NB 4:30 PM S. Stephens (USA) vs A. Kalinina (UKR)
NB 7:00 PM E. Mertens (BEL) vs [10] D. Kasatkina
[Q] A. Parks (USA) vs L. Davis (USA)
COURT 9 starts at 11:00 AM
J. Paolini (ITA) vs D. Vekic (CRO)
V. Gracheva (FRA) vs S. Cirstea (ROU)
M. Kato (JPN) / A. Sutjiadi (INA) vs C. Garcia (FRA) / P. Martic (CRO)
COURT 5 starts at 11:00 AM
[Q] K. Day (USA) vs M. Bouzkova (CZE)
M. Kostyuk (UKR) / S. Zhang (CHN) vs T. Mihalikova (SVK) / Y. Xu (CHN)
[5] D. Krawczyk (USA) / D. Schuurs (NED) vs M. Ninomiya (JPN) / S. Santamaria (USA)
COURT 6 starts at 11:00 AM
L. Marozava / I. Gamarra Martins (BRA) vs [7] S. Aoyama (JPN) / E. Shibahara (JPN)
A. Danilina (KAZ) / B. Mattek-Sands (USA) vs K. Muchova (CZE) / M. Vondrousova (CZE)
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