The 2019 Wuhan Open quarterfinals will be played on Thursday, September 26 and some of the top women’s players in the world will be queuing up to take to court. Get the latest Ash Barty v Petra Martic & Aryna Sabalenka v Elena Rybakina tips and predictions with their previews along with other matches can be found below.
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Ash Barty v Petra Martic Predictions & Preview
In what will be the second meeting between Ash Barty and Petra Martic, the duo meet at the Wuhan Open quarter-final stage on Thursday. And Barty leads 1-0, having won their previous match last year in the third round of the Miami Open in straight sets.
A semi-finalist here at the Wuhan Open last year, Barty will need to win this to not drop any points, and so far she’s looked good in the tournament. After an opening bye, she was stretched to three sets by Caroline Garcia – something that could be put down to rustiness. However, once she found her bearings, Barty crushed the in-form Sofia Kenin to end her seven-match winning streak.
Barty won 6-3, 7-5 to march into the quarter-finals.
Martic has won three matches in a row here, having reached the final last week at Zhengzhou. A win over Kristina Mladenovic, Rebecca Peterson and Veronika Kudermetova followed this week which underlines her good form in recent times on hard court surfaces.
However, beating Barty will be a completely different proposition and the Aussie starts off a huge favourite here. We reckon the Aussie world number one should take this in straight sets.
Tip: Barty to win in straight sets: 13/10 with Unibet
Aryna Sabalenka v Elena Rybakina Predictions & Preview
This will be the first match between Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina with the defending champion from Belarus, Sabalenka, starting out as a heavy favourite. Now sure, Rybakina had made the final at Nanchang two weeks ago and shown fighting spirit in getting to the quarter-finals here but she has barely faced opponents of higher pedigree.
And just as she was about to face one, Simona Halep was forced to retire from their third round match because of a back injury. Her previous wins came against Lin Zhu and Ons Jabeur, two relatively lower-ranked players.
Sabalenka, who had announced herself last year by winning a couple of titles including this one, didn’t waste too much time to get past Kiki Bertens in the third round. Ever since reaching the final of the San Jose Open, Sabalenka’s form has been patchy and this is the first time she’s won three matches in a row.
Tip: Sabalenka to win in straight sets: 4/6 with Unibet
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Petra Kvitova v Dayana Yastremska Predictions & Preview
Petra Kvitova has never played Dayana Yastremska before this. The Czech is now down to seventh in the world, having had her form tapered out a tad after that Australian Open run earlier this year. Of course, a calf injury in the month made it tougher for her but two back-to-back wins in straight sets here at Wuhan should return her the confidence she needs.
Interestingly, this has been one of Kvitova’s best seasons on hard court surfaces, with a win-loss record of 22-7 in her favour.
Now, who would have thought that Yastremska would not just make it to the quarter-final but also that in doing so, she would get the better of the second seeded Karolina Pliskova. And in straight sets too. Earlier she had beaten Ajla Tomljanovic and Christina McHale, also in straight sets and with the kind of form she is exhibiting, might be a tough opponent to surmount.
Kvitova will be a big favourite here though.
Tip: Kvitova to win in straight sets: 11/8 with Unibet
Elina Svitolina v Alison Riske Predictions & Preview
Third seeded Elina Svitolina will be up against unseeded Alison Riske at the quarter-final stage of the Wuhan Open. And this will be the fourth match in which they will be facing against each other with Svitolina having won all three previous times. Interestingly, all three of the previous encounters came before Svitolina reached the glory of her career – ranked around 15-20th in the world in two of those and outside the top 100 in the third.
What we are trying to imply here is that Svitolina will be an even heavier favourite going into this encounter, having showed the form of her life over the past two years. She has nine titles under her belt since the start of 2018, and has already crushed both her first two round opponents.
A 7-5, 6-2 win over Garbine Muguruza was followed by a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Riske did have easier opponents in her first two rounds but her 6-2, 6-1 spanking of Wang Qiang holds her in a good stead here. Still, Svitolina should win this one in straight sets.
Tip: Svitolina to win in straight sets: 10/11 with Unibet