The 2019 Tashkent Open kick-starts from Monday, September 23 with few of the top players in the tournament in opening round action. Get the latest Donna Vekic v Victoria Azarenka & Aryna Sabalenka v Danielle Collins tips and predictions with their previews along with other matches can be found below.
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Viktoria Kuzmova v Francesca di Lorenzo Preview
This will be the first ever match between Viktoria Kuzmova and Francesca di Lorenzo but a gap of nearly 90 spots on the WTA rankings tells us what’s there to know about them. Kuzmova, the top seed in this competition, hasn’t had a great few weeks coming into this tournament though with four successive losses under her belt.
Interestingly, she has not even won a single set in these four matches which would give the 22-year-old di Lorenzo some bit of hope coming into this opener. Unfortunately for her, main draw matches have been few and far between with a qualifier loss at Osaka last week and another in the New York Open qualifiers as well.
What makes it worse for di Lorenzo is she is yet to win even an ITF title this year, something that she has done thrice in her career so far. Sounds like Kuzmova should have it very easy here.
Tip: Kuzmova to win in straight sets: 8/5 with Unibet
Alison van Uytvanck v Ludmila Samsonova Preview
Again, another first-time meeting between players ranked quite apart. Alison van Uytvanck has had an up and down hard court swing coming into this tournament in Tashkent, but she did win a title this season earlier this year. On hard court surfaces though, she is a paltry 5-9 on win-loss.
Samsonova has been featuring in the lower level tournaments as you would expect a player ranked 133rd in the world would do, but did make it as far as the semi-final at the Palermo Open earlier this year. That aside, her hard court record has been quite underwhelming and she is yet to win a main draw match on this surface.
Van Uytvanck is a favourite to win this, but the big question is if she can do that in straight set. We think so.
Tip: van Uytvanck to win in straight sets: 6/5 with 888Sport
Jelena Ostapenko v Katarina Zavatska Preview
Former French Open champion and former world number five, Jelena Ostapenko would be hoping the low-profile nature of the Tashkent Open can help her win a few matches. Because otherwise, a 7-12 win-loss record on hard court surfaces this season isn’t much to boast about entering this encounter.
Ostapenko might take heart from her third round appearance at the US Open before she went down to Kristie Ahn but that was followed by two losses in three defeats over the next two competitions. Zavatska, on the other hand, a qualifier at the Guangzhou Open made the second round before losing to the eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
Before that, however, her performances have been scratchy and for her to challenge her Latvian opponent will need a mini-miracle.
Tip: Ostapenko to win: 17/25 with 888Sport
Anna Kalinskaya v Harriet Dart Preview
Finally a match-up in which the players have met each other before. Harriet Dart, a British qualifier, takes on Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya after having faced off on grass in an ITF competition in 2018. Dart had won that in straight sets but one look at the rankings of these two players and it’s easy to understand why there’s not much to separate the two.
Kalinskaya is 116th to Dart’s 132nd, and both have had their time playing at the lower circuit. The Russian, it must be quickly added here, has won two ITF competitions this year to her opponent’s zero, and made the qualifiers of the US Open, beat Sloane Stephens in round one and then went out to Ahn.
Harriet had a similar story too at the US Open where she qualified for the main draw but lost her opener. Where Kalinskaya scores over Dart is her recent semi-final appearance at the Washington Open, a result that has taken her from 189th in the world earlier this year to her present 116th.
Tip: Kalinskaya to win: 8/5 with Unibet