The Canadian Masters continues through the weekend with Fourth Round action in Toronto and Montreal.
There are some good matches scheduled for Saturday and there are three selections made, which can be read below.
With the majority of the Tennis Picks from Friday being played in the evening in Canada, the weekly totals will be updated and placed in this thread once they have all been concluded.
Casper Ruud v Karen Khachanov: It was not a surprising decision to see Casper Ruud miss the entirety of the grass court season after suffering an injury issue at the French Open. He has been rehabbing for some time now and the Norwegian has returned to the Tour with two solid wins here in Toronto as he has moved through to the Fourth Round.
Casper Ruud will feel his tennis is well suited to the hard courts and he has had plenty of successes at the US Open in the past.
However, he has been set as the underdog in this match against Karen Khachanov and that is something of a surprise.
Of course you have to acknowledge the fact that Casper Ruud has been out of action for some time, but he should have gotten his legs back under him having put two wins on the board. Karen Khachanov has been playing pretty well himself and he did have a solid showing at Wimbledon, which will have boosted the confidence, but the overall hard courts record is just 7-7 for the season.
It has been a particular struggle for the World Number 16 when facing opponents who are Ranked higher than himself.
He has lost all four hard court matches in that spot this season and Karen Khachanov is just 2-8 in those matches over the last twelve months, which is something he is likely going to have to battle against. The serve has been put under pressure by the fact that Khachanov has really struggled with his return against the higher Ranked opponents faced and Casper Ruud will feel he can exploit that fact.
In two previous matches on the Tour, Casper Ruud has been much the better player although the last of those came at the US Open in 2022. Casper Ruud beat Karen Khachanov in the Semi Final of that Grand Slam, and he has been serving well enough in his two wins at the Canadian Masters to be able to edge through this contest.
Marta Kostyuk - 1.5 games v McCartney Kessler: Both of these players have had to dig in and work hard to move through to the Fourth Round in Montreal, but having a day of rest between matches should help.
There are similarities in the performances that Marta Kostyuk and McCartney Kessler have been able to produce on the hard courts and that should lead to a competitive match.
It is McCartney Kessler who has won a title on the surface earlier this season, and she also reached the Final in Austin, but the most recent hard court results have perhaps been a little disappointing. That makes the two wins in this tournament feel important and she will have the confidence to take on an opponent who beat her convincingly at the US Open last year.
Marta Kostyuk has really been struggling for consistency on the hard courts and she has only reached the Quarter Final in one tournament in 2025.
The second serve has been a vulnerability and that is something that McCartney Kessler has to look to attack and try and build the pressure on the World Number 28.
However, the Kostyk first serve seems to have a bigger impact compared with the American's same delivery and it may give the higher Ranked player a few more cheaper points.
She has the slightly superior returning numbers too and Marta Kostyuk may end up getting better of the match, even if she needs three sets to move through.
Elena Rybakina - 4.5 games v Dayana Yastremska: There are still plenty of wins being produced by Elena Rybakina, but she has dropped out of the top ten in the World Rankings. Off court issues have been affecting her for several months and that has really not helped Elena Rybakina to consistently challenge the very best players on the Tour.
Over the coming weeks, Elena Rybakina has a really good chance to reverse the drop in the World Ranking with very few points to defend and she is already doing a good job of that here in Montreal.
Two solid wins have been earned by the World Number 12 and she has been playing at a pretty consistent level on the hard courts, although Semi Final defeats have been a feature of her season on this surface. Underwhelming showings at Indian Wells and Miami would have hurt too, but there is every chance that Elena Rybakina will make it through to the Quarter Final here.
Dayana Yastremska will have plenty to say about that, although she has not been as convincing in her two wins compared with her opponent.
In both victories, the Ukrainian has actually allowed more Break Points to be created against her serve and that can be tough to sustain if she wants to keep winning matches.
At her best, Dayana Yastremska can be an effective server and she will need to do that if she is going to challenge Elena Rybakina. The latter is not always at her best on the return of serve on the hard courts and it has long felt like an area of her tennis that can be improved, but Elena Rybakina can build plenty of scoreboard pressure with her own serve.
That could be key to the outcome of this match as Rybakina looks to beat this opponent for the second time on the Tour.
Earlier this season, Elena Rybakina beat Dayana Yastremska at the Australian Open and it was a relatively comfortable win too. She had been the much stronger server in that match and created almost three times as many Break Points as she faced and the feeling is that Rybakina can do something similar here to edge past the handicap mark set.
MY PICKS: Casper Ruud @ 2.10 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Marta Kostyuk - 1.5 Games @ 1.87 Bet Victor (1 Unit)
Elena Rybakina - 4.5 Games @ 1.91 William Hill (1 Unit)
Weekly Update: 8-2, + 4.47 Units (10 Units Staked, + 47% Yield)
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