Naomi Osaka, Daniil Medvedev named top seeds for Canadian events

The second rackets of the world Naomi Osaka and Daniil Medvedev were named the best seeds at the WTA and ATP tournaments next week in Canada, the organizers announced on Monday.

Japanese star Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, will be the top seed for the women’s event in Montreal while Russian Medvedev, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year’s Canadian final, tops the lineup for the ATP Masters Toronto tournament.

Seedings for the US Open hardcourt tuneup events follow Monday’s latest rankings, with Nadal as the second seed, Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas third and Olympic champion Alexander Zverev of Germany seeded fourth.

“It’s especially impressive this year with the Olympic Games and restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic that the top players will be coming to Toronto,” Toronto tournament director Karl Hale said.

At Montreal, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will be the second seed while defending champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada is seeded fourth. Romanian Simona Halep, the 2016 and 2018 Canadian winner who is a wildcard entrant, was seeded ninth.

Tokyo Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, the 2015 Canada winner, will be seeded 11th.