#3 Andy Murray, one of the top eight ATP players who have all advanced to the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Photo via d.yimg.com

View full size photo »

For the first time in ATP history, the top eight players in the rankings are the eight quarterfinalists at a tournament.  The ATP #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8 are all still in action on Friday, which should make for an incredible day of tennis.

#1 Roger Federer faces #7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in what looks to be the most lopsided.  But Montreal's courts play fairly similarly to the courts at the Australian Open, where Tsonga made the final in 2008.  Federer should get through this one comfortably, but Tsonga is known to surprise.

#2 Rafael Nadal, having played only one full match since the French Open, takes on #6 Juan Martin del Potro, who has won nine straight matches including last week's Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.  del Potro beat Nadal on hard courts Miami earlier in the year, but Nadal looked considerably sharper in the second round against Philipp Petzschner than del Potro did against Victor Hanescu.

#3 Andy Murray gets the lowest ranked opponent in #8 Nikolay Davydenko, a match-up that might look easier on paper for Murray than it should.  Davydenko has actually won the last two hard court matches between the two in straight sets, with wins in Dubai and Shanghai last year.  Davydenko has won two tournaments since Wimbledon (Hamburg and Umag), and Murray hasn't been tested yet in Montreal.  If Murray comes out of the blocks slowly in this first match of the day, he could be in for a rough afternoon.

The match with the most guaranteed fireworks is the one in prime time, as #4 Novak Djokovic takes on #5 Andy Roddick in another installment of their heated rivalry.  Djokovic won the Rogers Cup the last time it was held in Montreal in 2007.  That year he beat Roddick in the quarterfinals, Nadal in the semifinals, and Federer in the final, a sequence he could repeat in 2009.  Djokovic and Roddick have played two contentious matches in slams recently, with Djokovic getting into it with the New York crowd at the US Open in 2008, and dropping out of their Australian Open quarterfinal this year once Roddick was up two sets to one with a break.  This one should not only have some good tennis, but it's a pretty solid bet for drama as well.

Same poll question as yesterday, but the answer is a lot less likely to be "None of the Above" this time around.

My money is on Nadal--how's about you?