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MONTREAL – The news came down for fans holding tickets for Thursday night’s Omnium Banque Nationale finals around 9 p.m. Tuesday night.

The expensive ticket ($175 – $500), which had included both the singles and doubles finals, now would be valid only for the singles final.

The doubles final, which features Coco Gauff and McCartney Kessler vs. Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai and promises epic potential, was moved up on late notice.

It will now be held Wednesday at 3 p.m., before the two singles semifinals that start at 6 p.m.

A lot less bang for the buck

Before anyone goes blaming the tournament or Tennis Canada for this – as Leylah Fernandez and father Jorge rather vociferously did when she was scheduled for her first-round match a few hours earlier than she had hoped, after her run to the title in Washington, D.C. the previous week – it’s not their fault.

(Yes, that was Open Court just coming to Tennis Canada’s defence. Let’s hope they don’t think that’s a new trend! But the facts are the facts).

There are three players involved in singles this week in Cincinnati who will compete in the doubles final – Gauff, Kessler and Townsend. And we’re told there was … significant pressure applied to have it pushed up a day,

In the case of Townsend (who had to miss the qualifying in Montreal because it was held on Sunday, the day of her doubles final in D.C.), she’s not among the 32 seeds and doesn’t have a first-round bye.

The first round in Cincinnati goes Thursday and Friday. Depending on which half she falls into, she could have been scheduled as early as Thursday. We don’t know if she’d get her opening round pushed back – it’s “only” doubles, after all.

But the latest the flight out of Montreal Thursday is just after 6 p.m. Zero chance they’d make it. And there are no direct flights to Cincinnati on Friday morning, meaning a late arrival no matter how early a flight they took. In short, it was complicated.

Gauff and Kessler are seeded. So they could play as early as Saturday after a later arrival Friday and have almost no time to get used to the somewhat different conditions.

So you can see why they’d push hard for it. At the same time, it’s just another issue that the WTA failed to take into consideration in trying to plan this compacted North American summer in a way that is fair to the players who do well.

The alternative, of course, is that one or both teams could have defaulted the final. And that’s a pretty unfair situation for all of them.

Finals ticket holders can watch – if they can make it

The only thing Tennis Canada could really do was to offer finals ticket holders the opportunity to come on Wednesday as well, to at least be able to see the doubles final.

An access pass to the site has been added to their electronic ticket for that purpose, with seating in the stadium on a first-come, first serve basis.

But that assumes those planning an evening session on Thursday can also free themselves up for the Wednesday afternoon. Some may have tickets for both the semis and finals, of course.

Those who don’t will have to clear the stadium before the singles semifinals, and you hope it’s not just a logistical hassle and a half.

Those holding tickets for the singles semifinals Wednesday will have access to just those matches, while those with finals tickets will have access to the doubles final. Which seems fine in theory; you imagine the early-arriving Wednesday ticket holders could also get in to watch the doubles as long as they don’t pull rank on “their” singles seats.

The ticket office’s reply to ticketholders is that when you buy a ticket, you buy it for a session – not a particular round or match. And that the schedule is subject to change. This is a thing that’s in the fine print on your tickets that you typically don’t ever glance at. But it’s true.

This particular edition of the Omnium Banque Nationale has barely been affected by rain. So the re-scheduling scrambles that have been a feature, not a bug some years haven’t come up at all.

But it also means the finals tickets holders are out of luck, if they can’t come both days. Without much recourse.

And then there’s the elephant in the room …

If the singles final is as swift and merciless as the two quarterfinals on Tuesday night were, those pricey ducats (very few left for sale) – will be good for … an hour or so of tennis.

That won’t be good for anyone. Let’s not think about that.

The post-mortem between Tennis Canada and the WTA and ATP after this first incarnation of the expanded draws should be … feisty.