The 11th seeded Elise Mertens faces off against the world number 58 Hsieh Su-wei in a first round fixture at the 2020 WTA Italian Open on Monday, September 14. This match is expected to start at around 5 pm (4 pm BST). Get the live streaming options of this Elise Mertens v Hsieh Su-wei match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Elise Mertens v Hsieh Su-wei Head to Head
Three previous matches between these two players have resulted in Mertens winning two and losing one. Their most result match came at the Osaka Open last year where Mertens won the round of 16 match in three sets, having earlier lost to Hsieh in Tianjin the previous year.
Their only encounter on clay was held at Rabat at the semifinal stage in 2018 and Mertens had registered a breezy 6-0, 6-2 win.
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Mertens on a Roll
It’s typically taken something special from her opponents to defeat Mertens over the last three tournaments she has played in. Since her shock loss at the Palermo Open first round match, Mertens has made the final at the Prague Open, semifinal at the Cincinnati Open and quarterfinal at the US Open.
And her defeats have come at the hands of Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka – currently, arguably the three best players on the circuit.
While her quarterfinal appearance at the US Open did not help her gain any points since she had reached that stage last season too, Mertens had been ousted in the opening round here in 2019. Which is why any deep run at the Italian Open this year will help her garner a lot of ranking points and inch closer to her career-best ranking of 18th in the world.
With the kind of Mertens has been in, this post-pandemic season, it will be difficult to put it beyond her to do something exactly like that.
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Hsieh Hasn’t Played Since Doha in February
Since losing in the first round to Vera Zvonareva at the Qatar Open, Hsieh hasn’t played a single match across any competitions. No hard court or clay court starts in August and none at the exhibition competitions before that as she played it safe with respect to the pandemic.
Now, she resumes her season on the back of a 2-6 win-loss record this year, with both her wins having come in the qualifiers of the Dubai Open. She lost all her first round matches other than that.
Clay brings a separate challenge for a player who isn’t known for her exploits on that surface. This can be shown from the fact she has won 25 titles at different levels while being a professional tennis player – WTA and ITF included – and only one of them came on clay. Even that was way back in 2006.
While she would be fresh from this long break, rustiness will be a huge factor here. Won’t get any easier.
Mertens v Su-wei Prediction & Tip
This could be one of the more one-sided encounters of the first round as Mertens is in rip-roaring form while Hsieh isn’t winning anything. Or even playing too much. Straight set win for the Dutchwoman.
Tip: Mertens to win in straight sets: 1/2 (bet365)
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The Italian Open 2020 will be played from September 14 to September 20. You can watch & bet on the Italian Open here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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