Tatjana María vs Liudmila Samsonova Prediction & Betting Tips - Japan Open

Prediction published on 24/09/2023, 11:26  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 25/09/2023 at 01:00

Seventh seeded Liudmila Samsonova begins the defence of her Toray Pan Pacific Open title. This is being played on outdoor hard courts in Tokyo and in the first round, Samsonova takes on unseeded Tatjana Maria. It's going to be tough for her to successfully defend this title with Swiatek, Pegula, Rybakina and Sakkari being the top four seeds. Samsonova is 17th in the latest rankings but down to 22nd in the live list with all these points to defend. The Russian is playing her first tournament since losing in the last 32 of the US Open. No doubt she'll be trying to recapture the form that saw her reach the final in Montreal in August where she had wins over Sabalenka, Bencic and Rybakina. Before that she'd got to the last four of the Washington hard court tournament.

Tatjana Maria is down at 53rd in the live rankings. That's seven below the career high that the German achieved back in 2017. The 36-year-old got to the last four of the Cleveland hard court tournament last month but comes into this event having lost her last three matches. Her most recent tournament was in Osaka where she was beaten by Panna Uvardy who was ranked 126th at the time. A WTA 125 event in Baranquilla was won in August but no top 160 ranked players were beaten that week. Her only previous match against Samsonova was won by the Russian four years ago. Our tip here is for Samsonova to win in straight sets.