The remaining third round matches at the 2019 China Open will be played on Thursday, October 3 with Bianca Andreescu and Naomi Osaka leading the draw. Here’s Naomi Osaka v Alison Riske & Bianca Andreescu v Jennifer Brady tips, previews and predictions for these third round matches.
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Naomi Osaka v Alison Riske Predictions & Preview
World number four Naomi Osaka will be up against American Alison Riske in the third round of the China Open on Thursday. The Japanese player looked to have overturned a wretched string of form with a title in Osaka a fortnight ago, but her real test is expected to come in this one where some of the top players are in action.
Not yet though. Because her first two wins, without too many worries too, came against Jessica Pegula and Andrea Petkovic and now she is up against an opponent ranked 24th in the world. And that is is Riske’s best ranking so far too.
Riske might not have won a big tournament in her career yet – she has a grand total of two WTA titles so far – but her form isn’t something Osaka will be able to overlook. For one, she had made it all the way through to the final of the Wuhan Open last week – which also helped her get a bye in the first round here.
However, more importantly, she beat Wang Qiang, Elina Svitolina and Petra Kvitova in getting to that title-decider. And while she was stretched to three sets by Ajla Tomljanovic, Riske didn’t let one of her better results of the season, get to her in that second round victory.
We would still have to give Osaka the heavy favourites tag – she is 7/18 to win this – we feel Riske could be in with a chance to ruffle the feathers a tad.
Tip: Games Handicap Alison Riske +4.5: 17/20 with Unibet
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Bianca Andreescu v Jennifer Brady Predictions & Preview
This will be the fifth time that the world number six Bianca Andreescu will be playing the 66th-ranked Jennifer Brady and the first time this year. It’s 3-1 in favour of Andreescu but the last time they faced off, was in an ITF tournament in Midland and Brady had won that in straight sets.
This also shows an interesting thing. Around 13 months go, Andreescu was ranked 243rd in the world and playing lower-level tournaments and even when she ended the year on a high, she was outside the top 150. The turnaround came this year, as Andreescu went on a tournament-winning spree – winning four of them on hard court surfaces including the US Open earlier this year.
A tad rusty coming into this competition, Andreescu was stretched to three sets in the first round but came into her own with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Elise Mertens in the second to set up this meeting against Brady. Brady has had a decent time for someone looking to break into the top 50 for the first time and a win here should take her closer to that dream.
Needing to qualify for this event, Brady has already beaten Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys, two big scalps but Andreescu could prove to be a tough nut to crack.
Tip: Andreescu to win in straight sets: 5/6 with Unibet
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Caroline Wozniacki v Katerina Siniakova Predictions & Preview
Get the preview for this Wozniacki v Siniakova match here.
Tip: Three sets in the match: 6/4 with Unibet
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Daria Kasatkina Predictions & Preview
Get the preview for this Alexandrova v Kasatkina match here.
Tip: Alexandrova to win: 4/5 with Unibet