The 2019 WTA China Open continues on Monday, September 30 with Simona Halep leading the action today. Simona Halep v Ekaterina Alexandrova & Caroline Wozniacki v Lauren Davis tips, previews and predictions found below
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Simona Halep v Ekaterina Alexandrova Predictions & Preview
This will just be the second meeting between Simona Halep and Ekaterina Alexandrova and the Romanian world number six leads 1-0 on head to head. Their only previous outing had come in Cincinnati earlier this year where Halep needed to overcome a first-set loss to win the match in three.
Halep has had a good year with her title win at Wimbledon capping some other underwhelming performances which have taken her down to number six on the world rankings. A retirement at Wuhan last week might not have helped either but she looked she was coming into her own with a 6-1, 6-1 pounding of Rebecca Peterson in the opening round.
The question is if she can show the kind of consistency that was on display at Wimbledon, having won just five of the nine matches she has played after that on hard court surfaces.
Alexandrova was a three-set winner over Bernarda Pera in her opening round encounter, but her performances against the top players haven’t been extraordinary yet. There was a victory over Bencic on grass earlier this year, and against Caroline Wozniacki on hard courts but the world number 39 will have to dig way deeper than usual to get past Halep.
At best, the Russian might be able to push Halep to the third set but that’s all one can hope for from this contest.
Tip: Halep to win in two sets: 4/5 with Unibet
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Caroline Wozniacki v Lauren Davis Predictions & Preview
This is the second time these two players are facing off and Wozniacki leads 1-0 on head to head. That win had come on the hard courts of Doha in 2017 but much has changed since. Wozniacki has had health issues and while she is still coming out fighting, the former world number one would prefer the results to go her way.
Since winning the last of her WTA titles last year here in Beijing, the Dane has been on a slow downward path. This year has been particularly brutal for her, results-wise, win just 16 wins from 30 matches. Third round defeats at Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open and an opening loss at Roland-Garros haven’t obviously helped but early exits in the smaller tournaments – like the first round defeat at Wuhan last week – have only added to her issues.
The 63rd-ranked Davis has been consistent in her quest to reach the latter stages of tournaments this year, even defeating Angelique Kerber in Wimbledon earlier this season. Lot of her top performances have come on the ITF circuit but her fighting approach has troubled a lot of her opponents and that’s what might be on display in this one too.
And now while Wozniacki is a straightforward favourite, wouldn’t be so much of a contrast to go the other way and put the money on Davis to cause an upset.
Tip: Lauren Davis to win: 29/20 with Unibet
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