Pan Pacific Open WTA 500 Japan

Backhandtips.com has certainly delivered some excellent predictions this week. Sofia Kenin has been in excellent form this week and with a proven pedigree on hard courts, it was slightly surprising that she was considered the outsider against both Tauson and Kasatkina. Any investment would have led to a 4 to 5x increase on your investment over the two matches. If you had doubled up then the profit would be closer to 7x the original investment. With Katie Boulter also rewarding DTM followers twice this week and Qinwen Zheng still left in the tournament having negotiated Fernandez in a curious match, this week has been a very profitable one all told:) 

DTM still expects Qinwen Zheng to win the event. The first semi final looks very close to call. If Kenin plays her best she could win. But the same applies to Boulter. DTM advises a 3 set match will be the outcome and ultimately the winner will be determined by who holds it together the best. Qinwen Zheng should though both be too consistent and strong for Shnaider and ultimately go on to claim the win in Sunday's final regardless of her opponent. 

DTM recommends

Katie Boulter and Sofia Kenin to have a 3 set match

Qinwen Zheng to beat D.Shnaider

Qinwen Zheng to win the event as already stated at the start :) 

After a perfect Thursday DTM is all out on quarter finals day. Sofia Kenin is a more speculative shot to win today but given her form she is worth another round. Zheng , Boulter and Shnaider are more obvious tips to complete the final 4 on Saturday. Although as DTM stated at the beginning of the week, Leylah Fernandez was always going to be the difficult match for China’s number one player. On her day she can beat anyone :) 

DTM recommends

K.Boulter to beat B.Andreescu

Q.Zheng to beat L.Fernandez

Sofia Kenin to beat D.Kasatkina

D.Shnaider to beat S.Ishii

Sofia Kenin is a very, very capable hard court player, hence her grand slam title :) Clara Tauson is a very very inconsistent, unreliable player who has managed to lose two matches in the last 10 days despite winning a set 6-1! Add to that her record of retirements then it would be hard to not back the American in this match up. DTM makes this an even match up and yet the American is viewed as the outsider. Meanwhile Katie Boulter is on a going week and will make it to the last 8 with a comfortable win against Okamura.

DTM recommends

K.Boulter to beat K.Okamura

2 sets to 0

Sofia Kenin to beat C.Tauson

Despite a good win for Viktoriya Tomova on day one, Diana Shnaider will be too strong in the second round and can win in straight sets.

DTM believes Shuai Zhang is playing so well at present that her previous form of 2022 is returning. Given a very weak field in Guangzhou Shuai Zhang is a really good investment to win this week  in the WTA 250 event. 

DTM recommends

D.Shnaider to beat  V.Tomova

2 sets to 0

Qinwen Zheng  to win Pan Pacific Open & Shuai Zhang to win Guangzhou Open  (25-1 win double as of Tuesday night)

The first match on Monday sees V.Kudermetova play V.Tomova. Having recently played each other in Seoul, form would dictate that Kudermetova will again come out on top. Tomova lost heavily last week to eventual winner Lamens in Osaka so will have had a full week to recover. Kudermetova is the lower ranked player and needs a good week having lots of points to defend after winning this title a year ago. Lots of pressure on her shoulders in the search for points. I suspect this could go the way of the Bulgarian who will have less to lose this time:) 

DTM recommends

V.Tomova to beat V.Kudermetova 

Qinwen Zheng has been in impressive form during the Asian swing. Having reacher the last 8 in the US Open, she went one round further inn Beijing losing in the semi finals to then reach the final in Wuhan. In theory this recent sequence of form indicates that in Japan she will come out on top and win the whole event. Assuming she is fit enough and free from injury she should indeed lift the trophy :) That said Leylah Fernandez could prove a tough last 8 opponent and on her day can cause an upset. Diane Shnaider is also the potential semi final opponent who also has a big game if everything falls right. 

In the bottom half Katie Boulter should get another crack at Haddad Maia in the last 8 whilst Daria Kasatkina must be on cloud 9 having won in Ningbo. However it is will be unlikely she wins through this week. Overall Zheng has to be the most likely winner assuming the run of events has not taken it out of her ?