After claiming a third title at the Bank of the West Classics Sunday, World No. 1 Serena Williams is in Montreal to defend her Rogers Cup title at the Uniprix Stadium in Canada.

Williams, 32, will be enjoying a first-round bye for being top ranked. She will play Wednesday against the winner of the match between Samantha Stosur and Monica Puig on Tuesday.

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Canadian Eugenie Bouchard is the crowd favorite, and is in the same section as Williams whom she considers to be her contender if she reaches the quarterfinals.

"I think she has a really good chance," Williams said. "She's done better than me in a lot of the tournaments."

The fifth-seed Bouchard had a stellar year reaching the semi-final rounds in the Australian Open and French Open before reaching the finals at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.

At Wimbledon, Bouchard faced a tremendous obstacle, beating Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals and Simona Halep in the semis before facing eventual winner Petra Kvitova in the finals.

The 20-year-old Bouchard also enjoys a first-round bye and will play American Shelby Rogers who defeated wild-card entry Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia in a tight Monday match 6-4 7(7)-6(5).

"I think it will be fun," Rogers said. "Obviously the crowd is going to be for her and I'm the underdog."

Other notables who won their opening day matchups are 15^th seed Lucie Safarova who beat Serena Cirstea 6-4 6-2; Sabine Lisicki who upset 13^th seed Italian Sara Errani; Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova who defeated Errani's doubles partner Roberta Vinci, and Alize Cornet who won against American Lauren Davis.

Cornet defeated Williams in the third round of Wimbledon and was thought of as one of the major upsets in the tournament including a third-round exit of No. 2 ranked Li Na of China who was defeated by Strycova in straight sets 7(7)-6(5) 7(7)-6(5).

Kvitova is second seed in the tournament that was vacated by Li who pulled out of the event due to problems with her knee which she admits of having since March.

TagsSamantha Stosur, Lucie Safarova, sabine Lisicki, Alize Cornet