The first round matches at the 2019 WTA Guangzhou Open 2019 will continue on Tuesday, September 17 with some of the top players taking part in the competition to be in action on the day. Latest Elina Svitolina v Dalila Jakupovic & Sofia Kenin v Laura Siegemund tips and predictions with their previews along with others can be found below.
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Elina Svitolina v Dalila Jakupovic Preview
On paper, it’s a match of the unequals. On the one is the world number three Elina Svitolina, who will resume her season after a shock loss at the Zhengzhou Open in the quarter-finals where she went down to Kristina Mladenovic. This was after she had made it to the semi-final at the US Open before Serena Williams sent her packing in straight sets.
It’s been a season that Svitolina would look back curiously because despite a decent 29-17 win-loss record, she has had better seasons than this. In fact last year itself, the Ukrainian finished at 44-15 and four titles, while there were five titles and an even better 53-14 win-loss record before that.
What Svitolina has done well this year is her performance in the big tournaments. A semi-final at the US Open and Wimbledon, one at the Indian Wells and a quarter-final at the Australian Open have given her the luxury of the rankings points she has otherwise missed out by the early ousters in other competitions.
That shouldn’t take anything away from the fact she is facing a 151st-ranked Slovenian in Dalila Jakupovic and with an 8-13 record this year on hard courts, Svitolina should have no worries going through.
Tip: Svitolina to win in straight sets: 7/20 (Unibet)
Sofia Kenin v Laura Siegemund Preview
There’s been one previous match between Sofia Kenin and Laura Siegemund with the 20th-ranked American Kenin winning that one with ease. When was that match played? The US Open earlier this month. Gives us an ample sighting of the difference in the quality between the two players.
Kenin’s already won a couple of WTA titles this year and made the final at one of them. Two of these finals have come on hard court surfaces including one at Hobart and the second at Acapculco.
She also made as far as the third round at the US Open before Madison Keys sent her out in two tough sets.
Siegemund has fallen to 79th in the world these days, hasn’t won a title since 2017 and while she made it as far as the quarter-finals at Hiroshima last week, that was her best result on hard court to date this year. Up against an opponent this strong, it would be a surprise if Siegemund managed to survive for a long time.
Tip: Games Handicap Sofia Kenin -5.5: 4/5 (Unibet)
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Katerina Siniakova v Elena Rybakina Preview
This should be a more evenly fought battle than the previous two what with their previous head to head reading 1-1 with both matches been played this year. Also, at 38th in the world, Katerina Siniakova is just 11 places ahead of Elena Rybakina and that could make it a solid battle, but for their hard court records.
While Siniakova made it as far as the semi-finals at the New York Open, her record on hard court surfaces has otherwise been quite appalling. In the 16 matches she has played on this surface except for that tournament, she has lost 11.
On the other hand, Rybakina, a 20-year-old, who recently finished a finalist at the Nanchang Open, before losing to Rebecca Peterson, has shown immense solidity. She needed to go through qualifiers to make it to the main draw at the US Open – which she did but lost – and earlier in the year was good enough to win titles at the ITF level as well.
Siniakova is the fifth seed in the competition but we might see one of our first big upsets in the competition here.
Tip: Rybakina to win: 1/1 (Unibet)