The 2019 Wuhan Open will continue on Monday and will see some of the top women’s players like Garbine Muguruza, Anastasija Sevastova and Petra Martic in action on the day. Get the latest Garbine Muguruza v Shuai Peng & Anastasija Sevastova v Christina McHale tips and predictions with their previews along with other matches can be found below.
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Garbine Muguruza v Shuai Peng Preview
It’s hard to believe that Spaniard Garbine Muguruza has fallen to 26th in the world and while she will still hold the edge over Shuai Peng in this opening round match, there have been times she has struggled against lower-ranked opponents too. Muguruza has beaten Peng twice in two meetings but those were times when she was doing really well.
In more recent times, Muguruza has fallen from being third in the world in February last year to 25th right now. And the way things are going, Muguruza would do well to stall her fall, having entered this tournament on the back of a five-match losing streak which started in May at the French Open.
Peng has a 10-7 win-loss on hard court surfaces this year but not too many of those matches have come in the main draw of tournaments. Peng, herself, has struggled to get going after a decent last season in which she won a title at Houston and the former world number 14 is now ranked 109th in the world. Muguruza looks like she would finally be able to break her duck.
Tip: Muguruza to win: 4/7 with Unibet
Anastasija Sevastova v Christina McHale Preview
This is the second meeting between Anastasija Sevastova and Christina McHale. At their first, in 2017 on the grass surface of Nottingham, McHale had edged out her opponent in a final set tie-breaker.
Unfortunately for McHale, things have turned around for the worse since, with a woeful 2018 seeing her win 16 and lose 30 of the matches she played in. As a result, McHale has now slid down to 100th in the world, and facing her 18th-ranked opponent won’t be an easy task.
Sevastova herself hasn’t had the best of hard court seasons though. She has lost 10 of her 19 matches on this surface, which includes back to back defeats in round one at Toronto and Cincinnati and then a third round exit at the US Open to Petra Martic.
However, she will start a favourite here and should make the second round without much ado.
Tip: Sevastova to win: 4/6 with Unibet
Petra Martic v Kristina Mladenovic Preview
Croatia’s Petra Martic, the world number 23 will go up against 44th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic in their first round match and it will also be their sixth match. Martic leads the head to head 4-1, which includes four successive wins since Mladenovic’s victory way back in 2013.
This year itself, Martic has won thrice including once as recently as Zhengzhou a week ago, where the Croat made the final. She lost to Karolina Pliskova in that one but that run was preceded by a fourth round spot at the US Open and together, along with her earlier results against Mladenovic make her a heavy favourite here.
Mladenovic’s poor record on hard-court surfaces – the last time she had a positive win-loss difference was in 2015 – makes us believe we are looking at a straight-set win for Martic.
Tip: Martic to win in straight sets: 1/1 with Unibet
Amanda Anisimova v Samantha Stosur Preview
18-year-old Amanda Anisimova takes on someone nearly double her age in the form of Australia’s Samantha Stosur and it could be quite an interesting one for a variety of reasons. One, Stosur, the much more experienced player, has recently had a brilliant run in a WTA tournament, having finally reached the final at the Guangzhou Open.
Since her run at the 2016 French Open, this has been a rare occurrence, and that has also pushed Stosur from 129th in the world to 92nd at the moment. She lost to Sofia Kenin in the final.
On the other hand, Anisimova is returning after enduring a personal tragedy, having last played at the San Jose Open earlier this year. She had a brilliant previous season, playing all her matches on hard court surfaces and winning 24 out of those 33, while showing she is just as comfortable on clay as well with a title win on it earlier this year.
Question is how would she be feeling mentally and if she can overcome her rustiness in this encounter. We will go with Stosur causing an upset here.
Tip: Stosur to win: 9/4 with Unibet