The WTA Toray Pan Pacific 2019 kick-starts with its first round matches on Monday, September 16 you can find all the information on the Anastasija Sevastova v Elise Mertens & Alison Riske v Nicole Gibbs tips and predictions with their previews.
Get the best odds for WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open 2019 with 888Sport here.[the_ad_group id=”1639″]
*Geo-restrictions apply & pre-funded account needed
Anastasija Sevastova v Elise Mertens Preview
Such is the luck of the draw that Anastasija Sevastova, who is ranked 18th in the world, will be taking on the 24th-ranked Elise Mertens in the first round while two qualifiers (check the Cornet v Tomova match below) are also going to face off in the opening round. Truth be told had the seedings been pushed further to a number ninth in the draw at the Pan Pacific Open, Mertens would have swooped that up and avoided facing any other seeded players in the competition.
One cannot change too much and Mertens would look to take up this opportunity to reverse the poor record she has against Sevastova, having played and lost both matches to her. Here’s a catch though; the first of those matches came in Mallorca on grass while the second was on clay earlier this year at Roland-Garros.
This will be the first time the two of them will be clashing on a hard court surface, one on which Sevastova’s win-loss record is an abysmal 9-10 this season. On the other hand, Mertens is coming off a quarter-final showing at the US Open and was a winner at the Doha Open earlier this on the same surface which puts her at a distinct advantage coming into this match.
Tip: Mertens to win: 4/6 (888Sport)
Alison Riske v Nicole Gibbs Preview
Americans Alison Riske and Nicole Gibbs will go head to head for the first time on the WTA circuit with Riske starting out a heavy favourite on this one. Riske is currently ranked 34th in the world, the best of her career so far, and it’s on the back of a solid season on grass.
A title at the Surbiton ITF competition was followed by a Hertogenbosch Open win where she dispatched Kiki Bertens in the final. And she carried her form into the Wimbledon where she made the quarter-final before losing to Serena Williams.
Gibbs had made the final at the Honolulu ITF competition in July but following that she has struggled even on that circuit, losing in back to back openers. Having qualified for the US Open she went down in the opening round and had to go through the qualifying route to make it through to this competition too.
Tip: Riske to win in straight sets: 15/13 (888Sport)
Also Read:
Alize Cornet v Viktoriya Tomova Preview
Qualifiers Alize Cornet and Viktoriya Tomova face off in this first round match, with the former starting out at 2/7 to win this one. That’s probably to do with Cornet’s obvious better ranking, what with the Frenchwoman starting out 59th to her opponent Tomova down to 184th, from her personal best of 128th at one stage.
Tomova had to overcome the loss of the first sets during her qualifying rounds to get through to the main draw and has generally not had a great season. However, Cornet’s recent struggles have been there to see too (she is 13-13 on hard court surfaces) and that does give an impression this could be a lot closer than the rankings suggest.
Tip: Games Handicap Viktoriya Tomova +5.5: 9/10 (888Sport)
Dayana Yastremska v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Preview
Another close match in the offing when the 30th-ranked Dayana Yastremska takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. And what makes it more difficult is these two haven’t played each other before this.
The difference is that Yastremska is on the upswing, this is her best ranking while Pavlyuchenkova was 13th in the world at one point but has slipped down to 41st at the moment. And on hard court surfaces, Pavlyuchenkova is 9-11 on win-loss, but the worst part of her season has been her recent form across all courts.
Coming into this tournament, she had a win-loss of 3-8 and that will be up against a two-title winner in the form of Yastremska.
Tip: Yastremska to win in straight sets: 5/4 (888Sport)