First round matches at the 2020 WTA Mexican Open will be played on Monday, February 24 with Heather Watson and Wang Yafan as two of the seeded players in action. All the information around those matches can be found below with the latest Heather Watson v Coco Vandeweghe & Wang Yafan v Wang Xiyu tips, previews and live streams below among other matches.
- Get the best odds for the Mexican Open 2020 with bet365 here.
- Also watch the Mexican Open 2020 live streaming here
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Heather Watson v Coco Vandeweghe Predictions & Preview
74th-ranked British player Heather Watson will be up against American Coco Vandeweghe, who hasn’t played a lot of tennis in recent times. Watson, a former top-40 player, started off without making it to the main draw at Brisbane but then found her own in Hobart.
Needing to qualify there, she won her two qualifiers, and then beat three more including Elise Mertens on her way to making the semifinal. There she went down to the impressively in-form Elena Rybakina. Since then, Watson has played at the Australian Open where she made the second round and the Fed Cup where she won and lost one to enter this tournament with some reasonable form going for her.
Vandeweghe, on the other hand, missed a major part of the 2019 season because of an ankle injury. She played in only 22 matches, majorly focussing on the lower, ITF circuit before finally finding some form at the Houston Open where she made the final. This year, however, other than a first round Australian Open exit, she hasn’t played in the main draw of a WTA event. Watson starts a favourite.
Tip: Watson to win: 5/6 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
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Wang Yafan v Wang Xiyu Predictions & Preview
This will be the first time these two Chinese ladies will be facing off in a competitive match as Wang Yafan returns to the site of her first – and only – WTA title. In the interim 12 months, Yafan found it difficult to replicate that success elsewhere but still managed to keep afloat in the rankings, currently at 57th to his career-best of 49th in the world.
That said, a below-par performance in this tournament will lead to a loss of lot of the points, and given her recent struggles in 2020 that is a distinct possibility. She has played five matches this year and lost four of them, entering this tournament on a four-match losing streak.
To be fair to Yafan, three of those have come against a stiff opposition in the form of Elena Rybakina, Garbine Muguruza and Alison Riske but a first round exit at Hua Hin to Patricia Tig might not have helped her confidence. And while she now plays a qualifier in the form Xiyu, even the 128th-ranked player has had a better showing this year so far.
Xiyu made it to the quarterfinal at Hua Hin following a second round appearance in Shenzhen earlier this year. And she could stretch Yafan here.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 8/5 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
Marie Bouzkova v Tatjana Maria Predictions & Preview
This will be the fourth meeting between these two players and on each of the previous three occasions Maria has won against Bouzkova. However, their last match came as far back as in 2017, and since then Maria has struggled to get going. So much so, she is currently 92nd in the world, to her opponent’s 60th.
Neither player is coming off too much form this year either. Bouzkova has lost in the first round at Brisbane, Hobart and Australian Open and only managed a few wins at an ITF event two weeks ago. Maria made the quarterfinal at Newport Beach after struggling at Shenzhen Open and Adelaide International, and then bowing out in the first round at the Australian Open.
All this implies it could be a struggle for both players in this match as it is for us to decipher who goes through, but Bouzkova’s far superior record on hard court surfaces make her a favourite here.
Tip: Bouzkova to win in three sets: 3/1 (Click here to get these odds with bet365)
Anna Kalinskaya v Tamara Zidansek Predictions & Preview
77th-ranked Tamara Zidansek will take on Russian Anna Kalinskaya in this opening round match at Acapulco. And it’s interesting to see the Russian has featured in only one tournament this year, at the Australian Open. She won her three qualifiers to make the main draw where she went out in straight sets.
Zidansek did win her openers at the Auckland Open and then again at the Australian Open but those have been the only two wins of this season for her too. There have been six other losses including a few to top players like Serena Williams and Rybakina but three successive defeats in the Fed Cup matches earlier this year might not go down too well for her.
Kalinskaya might shade this contest as a result.
Tip: Kalinskaya to win: 4/5 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)