TORONTO – It is safe to say that Toronto has never had as much momentum for its Rogers Cup tournament than it does in 2016.

Fresh off his run to the Wimbledon final, Canadian phenom Milos Raonic returns home in an effort to capitalize on his success at the All-England Club earlier this month. As popular as he is, though, the tennis scene north of the border does not end with Raonic.

In addition to Raonic, there are a handful of other Canadians who have qualified on the men's side, including 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov who, despite being ranked 371st in the world, is fresh off winning the Wimbledon Juniors.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Shapovalov emigrated to Canada before his first birthday, residing in the tennis hotbed of Richmond Hill, Ontario, just outside of Toronto.

Having already won the Wimbledon Juniors, Shapovalov also reached the semi-final at the French Open Junior tournament and has already won three tournaments on the ITF Futures tour in 2016. He is set to open Rogers Cup play on Monday against Australia's Nick Kyrgios.

But while the opening round of the Rogers Cup kicks off on Monday, the weekend festivities began with a myriad of qualifying matchups featuring a plethora of Canadian up-and-comers.

On Saturday, Philip Bester and Benjamin Sigouin were the first Canadians to take to the courts. Bester, a Vancouver native, had an easy time in his match, needing just 51 minutes to get by fellow Canuck Kelsey Stevenson 6-2, 6-2. With the victory, Bester advances to the final round of qualifying set for Sunday.

As for Sigouin, he wasn't as lucky.

While the 17-year-old native of Vancouver did put up quite the fight, he fell to Colombia's Alejandro Gonzalez 7-6(2), 6-4.

Overall, it wasn't an auspicious day for Canadians hoping to qualify. Philip Bester was the lone victorious Canadian as, in addition to Sigouin, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jack Mingjie Lin and Pavel Krainik all fell short in their respective matches.

The man of the hour this week, however, is the fourth-seeded Milos Raonic who received an opening-round bye at the Rogers Cup. Fans, unfortunately, will have to wait until Wednesday to see him in action.

The Rogers Cup, though, is not limited to the hometown players.

While Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and defending Rogers Cup winner Andy Murray have all withdrawn from the tournament, top-seeded Novak Djokovic is competing in Toronto this week. Like Raonic, Djokovic has received an opening-round bye and will see his first action on Wednesday afternoon.

A three-time winner at this event and a finalist last year, expect Djokovic to be the favorite at this year's Rogers Cup.

It promises to be a wonderful week.