The 2019 Rogers Cup isn’t a Grand Slam but many players consider it as an integral part of the season, as it offers them a chance to polish on their skills on the hard court against other elite tennis competitors. The women’s side of the 2019 Rogers Cup will have the likes of top-seeds Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka, but both of them can fall prey to the hands of the sleepers. We discuss three of these dark horses below.
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Angelique Kerber
So far this year, Kerber’s trophy case is lacking a championship hardware, but she has a grand opportunity to end her drought this month, when she partakes at the 2019 Rogers Cup women’s singles tournament. The 31-year-old Kerber has the experience to draw upon when she meets younger opponents at the Rogers Cup. She’s also done well enough on the hard surface to warrant fair expectations. Kerber is 16-7 on hard-court WTA matches this year, and almost took home her first win of 2019 when she went all the way into the 2019 Indian Wells Masters Finals in which she absorbed a loss at the hands of Bianca Vanessa Andreescu. Nevertheless, Kerber shouldn’t be overlooked since she has had success at the big stage on hard-court tournaments before, including a victory at the 2016 US Open and at the Australian Open that same year.
Johanna Konta
Konta came close to taking home two Grand Slam titles this year. At the 2019 French Open, Konta managed to make it to the semifinals then did well enough to reach the quarterfinals at the 2019 Wimbledon. If anything, she’s very much motivated to play well heading into the 2019 Rogers Cup after those pair of shortcomings. Back at the 2018 edition of the Rogers Cup, Konta booked a spot at the round of 16 only to suffer a loss to Elina Svitolina. The good news for those looking to bet on Konta is that she’s proven herself on the hard court before, winning the 2017 WTA Apia International in Sydney and the WTA Miami Open also that year.
Belinda Bencic
At 22 years old, Bencic has plenty of tennis ahead of her but with more than a handful of success already. This year alone the Swiss youngster has notched a title, when she topped the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships earlier this year. To win that title, Bencic had to defeat Petra Kvitova in the Finals in three sets.Bencic has reached at least the semifinals round of two of the last three hard-court tournaments she’s played in, as he also made the final four at the Indian Wells Masters last March.
