MATCH POINTS

No.13 seed Venus Williams, the 2014 runner-up here, owns a 2-0 head-to-head lead over Sorana Cirstea. Both victories took place on North American hard courts with almost identical scorelines: 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of Miami in 2010 and 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of Indian Wells this March.

No.1 seed and 2016 champion Simona Halep has a 100% record in opening-round matches in 2018. The Roland Garros champion has never lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in seven meetings dating back to Dubai 2012. The Russian has only won two sets in that time: in the first round of Tokyo in 2013, she held two match points before falling 3-6, 7-6(5), 3-0 ret., and in Rome last year took the second set before losing 6-1, 4-6, 6-0.

Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber has only lost one opener this year, in Mallorca to Alison Riske. The German leads the head-to-head with Alizé Cornet 3-1; Cornet's sole victory was their most recent encounter, and only match to date on hard courts, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of Beijing last year.

No.2 seed Caroline Wozniacki's second-round match against Aryna Sabalenka will be a reprise of the Eastbourne final, won by the Dane 7-5, 7-6(5) to seal her second title of the year.

Wildcard Françoise Abanda, who picked up her second career Top 50 win over Kirsten Flipkens on Tuesday and faces No.3 seed Sloane Stephens today, continues to thrive on home soil. Of the Canadian's eight WTA main draw wins, five have come in either Montréal, Toronto or Québec City.

No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova faces Kiki Bertens for the third time in 2018, and fifth time overall, in their very first meeting on outdoor hard courts. So far this year they are level at one victory apiece - counter-intuitively, with Pliskova taking the win on Bertens' favored clay, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of Stuttgart, and the Dutchwoman gaining revenge on grass, 6-3, 7-6(1) in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

No.12 seed Daria Kasatkina takes on compatriot Maria Sharapova for the first time today. This decade, Sharapova has a 35-5 record against fellow Russians, with her only losses coming against Maria Kirilenko (Australian Open 2010), Elena Vesnina (Beijing 2010), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Paris 2014), Svetlana Kuznetsova (Madrid 2015) and Vitalia Diatchenko (Wimbledon 2018).

ORDER OF PLAY

COURT CENTRAL (starts 11am)
Angelique KERBER (GER) [4] vs Alizé CORNET (FRA) 

Not before 12.30pm
Daria KASATKINA (RUS) [12] vs Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) 
[WC] Françoise ABANDA (CAN) vs Sloane STEPHENS (USA) [3]

Not before 6.30pm
Simona HALEP (ROU) [1] vs Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) 
Aryna SABALENKA (BLR) vs Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) [2]

BANQUE NATIONALE (starts 11am)
[Q] Carla SUÁREZ NAVARRO (ESP) vs Lesia TSURENKO (UKR) 
Elina SVITOLINA (UKR) [5] vs Mihaela BUZARNESCU (ROU) 
[LL] Monica PUIG (PUR) vs Anastasija SEVASTOVA (LAT) 

Not before 4.30pm
[WC] Victoria AZARENKA (BLR) vs Johanna KONTA (GBR) 

Not before 6.30pm
Sorana CIRSTEA (ROU) vs Venus WILLIAMS (USA) [13]

COURT 9 (starts 11am)
Alison VAN UYTVANCK (BEL) vs Ashleigh BARTY (AUS) [15] 

Not before 12.30pm
Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE) [9] vs Kiki BERTENS (NED) 
Elise MERTENS (BEL) [14] vs ZHANG Shuai (CHN) 
Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL) / Daria GAVRILOVA (AUS) vs [WC] Carson BRANSTINE (CAN) / Rebecca MARINO (CAN) 
CHAN Hao-Ching (TPE) / YANG Zhaoxuan (CHN) vs [WC] Françoise ABANDA (CAN) / Tatjana MARIA (GER)

COURT 5 (starts 12.30pm)
Miyu KATO (JPN) / Makoto NINOMIYA (JPN) vs Latisha CHAN (TPE) / Ekaterina MAKAROVA (RUS) [2]
Bethanie MATTEK-SANDS (USA) / Lucie SAFAROVA (CZE) vs Ashleigh BARTY (AUS) / Demi SCHUURS (NED) [8]
Shuko AOYAMA (JPN) / Lidziya MAROZAVA (BLR) vs Mihaela BUZARNESCU (ROU) / Monica NICULESCU (ROU) 
Julia GOERGES (GER) / Karolina PLISKOVA (CZE) vs Nicole MELICHAR (USA) / Kveta PESCHKE (CZE) [7]
Kiki BERTENS (NED) / Katarina SREBOTNIK (SLO) vs Andrea SESTINI HLAVACKOVA (CZE) / Barbora STRYCOVA (CZE) [4]