The top seeds in the women's draw won't be active at this point as they will get byes into the second round. For Simona Halep, that may certainly help her out as she withdrew from Washington's quarterfinals a few days ago due to issues with the heat. She remains in the thick of things when it comes to getting the World No. 1 ranking on the WTA Tour. However, Halep can't catch Karolina Pliskova with the rankings that will follow the 2017 Rogers Cup next Monday.
World No. 1 ranking not on the line
The Rogers Cup awards 900 ranking points to its champion.
Entering the tournament in Toronto, Halep is 921 ranking points behind Pliskova. The Romanian can make the race close with a title, especially if Pliskova suffers an early upset. However, even the most-optimal double result from Halep's point of view (ie. a title for her and Pliskova losing her first match) would not produce a direct change at the top of the women's game. If Halep has ambitions of overtaking Pliskova then they will have to wait until at least the Western & Southern Open next week in Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati event will be a key one when it comes to the top spot on the women's tour. Pliskova won the title there last season before making the US Open final. In those two events combined she has a lot of ranking points to lose.
That creates big potential for Pliskova to regress back toward the pack on tour and she may end up be a short-term No. 1. She can prevent that with very distinguished results in the weeks ahead, including in Toronto.
Halep's draw in Toronto
In Toronto this upcoming week, Halep will certainly want to cut into Pliskova's lead.
The Romanian has a bye in the first round and then a match against either Madison Keys or Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. If the match ends up being against Keys, then fans should be aware that the American won Stanford just this past weekend. While that attests to her form, she may also be tired heading into Toronto. Halep shares a path to the final with Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza, and Elina Svitolina.
The biggest barrier there appears to be Muguruza, however a lot will depend on whether the Spaniard is motivated at this point.
Pliskova enters Toronto having not contested a match since losing in the second round of Wimbledon. In all ways she looks to be well rested for the event and appears poised for a deep run in Toronto. She shares a draw to the tournament's semifinals with Caroline Wozniacki, a player entering Toronto on a week's rest following a finals loss in Bastad in late July. Pliskova is also on the same half of the draw as Angelique Kerber and Britain's Johanna Konta. Kerber was unable to win single title as World No.1, a trend that Pliskova will not be looking to repeat.
