TORONTO – On Monday, the Canadians shone in the spotlight. On Tuesday, that spotlight shifted to the tournament’s higher seeds.

10th-seeded Gael Monfils opened his Rogers Cup play early Tuesday afternoon as he took on Portugal's Joao Sousa. Sousa gave Monfils a good run but in the end, the Frenchman prevailed 6-3, 6-3, firing eight aces en route to the victory.

Having won the Citi Open in Washington, D. C. last week, Monfils touched on the difference between the courts there and in Toronto, following his victory. “Yeah, it’s different conditions,” the Frenchman said. “You know, I think the court is getting slower here. It’s for sure less humidity and a little bit colder [in Toronto]. Balls are flying more. It’s quite a big change, actually.”

Up next for Monfils is Canadian Vasek Pospisil who won by virtue of a retirement. The native of British Columbia defeated Jeremy Chardy 7-6(3) in a hard-fought opening set before the veteran withdrew.

As the first round wrapped, the second round began with two matches on Tuesday, each featuring a player in the world’s top 10.

In the first of the second-round matches, 5th-seeded Tomas Berdych, who received a first-round bye, took on Croatia's Borna Coric. Despite a slow start, the Czech settled in and showed the Toronto crowd why he is among the Top 10 in the world, defeating Coric 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Later, second-seeded Stan Wawrinka, another recipient of a first-round bye, battled Russia's Mikhail Youzhny. Wawrinka was given a run for his money but he was resilient, edging Youzhny 7-6(3), 7-6(8) in what turned out to be a very exciting matchup.

Elsewhere, while he isn't seeded, one up-and-comer who many have their eyes on is American Taylor Fritz. A native of San Diego, the 18-year-old Fritz faced veteran Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday evening in what was arguably the most entertaining match of the day. Through the first two sets, neither player gave an inch.

Fritz made Karlovic earn every point but in the end, the veteran was just too much. Whether it was the result of a medical timeout for Fritz following the second set or an unfathomable 29 aces by Karlovic, the 37-year-old Croatian pulled away in the third set. After exchanging 7-6 results in the first two sets, Karlovic took the deciding set 6-3.

Waiting for Karlovic in the second round is fellow countryman Marin Cilic, who enters the tournament ranked world no. 12.

Meanwhile, the hometown contingent was not left out of the action on Tuesday as the Canadian duo of Philip Bester and Adil Shamasdin defeated the Serbian team of Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 4-6, 10-2 in doubles.

During the match, the Canadian pair lost the second set after double-faulting twice. They rebounded, though, as they went on to dominate the third to take the match. When asked about the second set situation, Philip Bester started off with a little humor. “Well, first off, I wanted to keep things interesting for the crowd,” Bester quipped. “You know what? That’s just sport. That’s tennis. That kind of stuff happens. Not just to me. It happens to everybody.”

The Canadian duo advance to the second round of the doubles draw to face the 7th-seeded team of Rajeev Ram and Raven Klaasen of the United States and South Africa respectively.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, of all the participants in Toronto, no player enters the Rogers Cup with more momentum than Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic. Thanks to a first-round bye, the 25-year-old Canadian will be seeing his first action this week on Wednesday night when he battles Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei.

Unlike Raonic, however, Lu is coming off short rest having defeated Germany's Alexander Zverev 7-5, 6-3 early Tuesday. The two players, though, are no strangers to each other having battled twice already. Following his win on Tuesday, Lu was asked what he learned from those matches against Raonic. “I mean, he’s, you know, powerful, powerful player and very big serve. Very powerful,” he responded. “You have to, you know, break his service games.”

Peter Polansky will also be in second-round action on Wednesday when he takes on Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. The 37-year-old Stepanek rolled past 14th-seeded Benoit Paire of France 6-1, 6-3.

While Raonic may be the most popular player in action, one would be remiss if they didn’t mention top-seeded Novak Djokovic. While most are aware of the dominant year the Serb is having, Wednesday’s match against Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller will be Djokovic’s first match since being upset by American Sam Querrey (who is also in the second round) at Wimbledon earlier this month. Djokovic will take Centre Court in Toronto, so expect all eyes to be on the world no. 1 on Wednesday afternoon.

Overall, eight of the Top 10 seeded players will be in action on Wednesday. Some notable matchups are the aforementioned Sam Querrey taking on Belgium’s David Goffin, who is seeded seventh, an All-American matchup featuring Donald Young against the 16th-seeded Jack Sock and Kevin Anderson taking on the sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria.