The 2019 China Open quarter-finals will be played on Friday, October 4 with Bianca Andreescu and Naomi Osaka leading the draw. Here’s Ash Barty v Petra Kvitova & Elina Svitolina v Kiki Bertens tips, previews and predictions for these third round matches.
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Ash Barty v Petra Kvitova Predictions & Preview
This will be the sixth match between the world number one Ash Barty and seventh-ranked Petra Kvitova as they grapple to make it to the semi-final at the China Open. And Kvitova will go into the match knowing she has had the edge over her Aussie opponent over the time, winning four of their five matches.
Barty, on the other hand, won their previous encounter at Miami but even that wasn’t a straightforward win. The world number three needed three sets to make it to the semi-finals there. Before that they had faced up at the Australian Open and Kvitova had blitzed past Barty 6-1, 6-4.
In this competition at the China Open, Barty had an opening bye before knocking out Yulia Putintseva in straight sets. Saisai Zheng ran Barty close by taking her to a third set but the Australian’s experience in sticky situations saw her through under pressure.
Kvitova’s passage to this match has been way easier. While her second round win against Kristina Mladenovic was on expected lines, a 6-3, 6-3 walloping of Belinda Bencic makes her a strong contender in this tournament, not just this match. Add her strong record against the world number one and one cannot help but have her as our favourite in this match.
Tip: Kvitova to win: 10/11 with Unibet
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Elina Svitolina v Kiki Bertens Predictions & Preview
A contest between the world number three Elina Svitolina and the eighth-ranked Kiki Bertens in this quarter-finals and for the fourth time in their careers. Svitolina leads 2-1, while Bertens is 1-0 on hard court surfaces. In 2018, they played twice and it’s 1-1 on aggregate.
It’s been a scrappy and hardworking from Svitolina this competition. In the previous three tournaments since she made it to the semifinals at the US Open, the Ukrainian world number three has not done too much of note – winning two matches at Wuhan being her best showing.
However, here at Beijing, Svitolina fighting qualities have come to the core. She came back from a set down to defeat Anastasija Sevastova, needed a 7-6, 7-5 win over Wang Yafan and then overcame the in-form Sofia Kenin in three-set thriller.
It gets more interesting for Bertens. Not since the Sydney International, 12 tournaments ago this year on hard court surfaces, has Bertens won three matches in a row – something she has finally done in this competition. The win over Donna Vekic in her opener was encouraging and it was followed by victories over Dayana Yastremska and Polona Hercog but Svitolina belongs to another pedigree.
Which is why Svitolina starts off as 4/7 favourite to win this and we believe it could be a straight-set victory too.
Tip: Svitolina to win in straight sets: 27/20 with Unibet
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Caroline Wozniacki v Daria Kasatkina Predictions & Preview
This is an interesting one between the former world number one and the defending champion at the China Open, Caroline Wozniacki and 22-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who had struggled to find her bearings before this tournament.
Wozniacki last won a title last year and has generally been underwhelming this season. And yet, she has found a way to get past all three of her opponents so far in straight sets. What might have helped is all of Lauren Davis, Christina McHale and Katerina Siniakova were lower-ranked opponents, and as luck would have it, Wozniacki now faces the 45th-ranked Kasatkina.
On paper that makes for a potentially one-sided contest, especially against a player who had a 5-12 win-loss record on hard court surfaces this year before this tournament. Things have improved dramatically though.
She has won three matches in a row here including sending the Wuhan Open winner Aryna Sabalenka packing. More vitally, Kasatkina has won three of the four matches she’s played against Wozniacki, including the previous three in a row – all of which came in 2018. On hard court surfaces, it’s 1-1 for the two players but given Kasatkina had defeated Wozniacki at the peak of her performances last year, this could go either way.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/4 with Unibet
Naomi Osaka v Bianca Andreescu Predictions & Preview
Two names that have been the toast of the women’s circuit over the past 12 months or so, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu will go up against each other in this quarter-final at the China Open. And surprise, surprise, the fourth-ranked Osaka has never played the sixth-ranked Andreescu in her career before this.
Andreescu had recently claimed she doesn’t remember what losing seems like and while it might sound a touch cocky, her record does underline that thought process. In 2019, Andreescu has played 49 matches and lost just four. This includes a 16-match winning streak that she is on since the French Open, one that might end at some point but for now it has taken her to new heights.
This is the same Andreescu who was so far behind in the WTA rankings that she needed to go through the qualifiers to feature at the Australian Open earlier this and was ousted in the second round. Since then, she hasn’t looked back and was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Jennifer Brady in her previous round here.
But this will be a contest and a half. After all, despite Osaka’s obvious problems in recent times, she is not just a two-time Grand Slam winner but also on a seven-match winning streak of her since her shock fourth round exit at the US Open. What’s even more marvellous is she is yet to drop a set over the past seven matches giving one a feel of this being an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.
Tough to call a winner in this one but we can expect a three-setter here.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 1/1 with Unibet