WTA Hong Kong Open Preview – October 8th – 14th, 2018
The next big stop on the WTA as the season winds towards the end of season championships in Hong Kong. This is the International level event with a field of 32 scrapping it out. US Open champion and current number two Naomi Osaka has had to pull out with a back injury. That’s a shame as she has been in cracking form. Ekaterina Makarova And fifth seed Lesia Tsurenko have also withdrawn ahead of the tournament.
Table of Contents
WTA Hong Kong Open Odds*
Elina Svitolina 9/2
Garbiñe Muguruza 11/2
Jelena Ostapenko 8/1
Qiang Wang 10/1
S Zhang 10/1
Daria Gavrilova 14/1
Aleksandra Krunic 16/1
Zarina Diyas 16/1
Dayana Yastremska 20/1
Monica Niculescu 20/1
Saisai Zheng 25/1
Bar 25/1* (betting odds taken on October 7th, 2018 at 3:11 pm)
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Saisai raises stock
Naturally, a lot of the focus is going to be on the big names in the field. There aren’t than many of them to be fair for this one. But we’ll start with Zheng Saisai who just battled through to an unexpected win at Zhengzhou over the weekend. She took out fourth seed Wang Yafan in that final, battling from a set down. So that has raised her stock a bit and is going off at 25/1 this week in Hong Kong* (betting odds taken on October 7th, 2018 at 3:11 pm).
Big Guns Fail to Appeal
Elina Svitolina is the top seed for the event as she looks to put a strong finish to the season in. After her run to the round of sixteen at the US Open, she went out in Wuhan at the end of September and lost her first match there. She hasn’t really been on top of her game too much this season but at this level of tournament, you would really expect her to be getting somewhere close. She competed in this last year and lost her first match. Probably worth avoiding at those 9/2 odds* (betting odds taken on October 7th, 2018 at 3:11 pm).
Another of the main contenders Garbine Muguruza is carrying a bit more form. She didn’t get up and running in Tokyo but got a couple of wins under her belt in Wuhan, China before losing to qualifier Katerina Siniakova in a tight scrap. That was at least a bit of forward momentum for the Spaniard.
Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko hasn’t caught fire since the summer grass court swing of the season. She has played three matches on this Asian swing of the season and has won just one of them. It’s been a surprisingly slack defence from her, but it’s the end of the season so probably isn’t going to be as strong. So there are vulnerabilities there and a lack of form among the front-runners.
Underdogs Look Good
So this is looking like a tournament where it is worth looking for a bit of longer each way value. China’s Quang Wang ranked 28th in the world isn’t a bad option at all here. She has produced some cracking form recently with a semi final run in Hiroshima, a win at Guangzhou and then she powered her way to a great semi final place at Wuhan in a Premier 5 effort at the end of September.
Aleksandra Krunic isn’t in bad form and recently went to the quarters in Guangzhou. She was out in Wuhan following that but ran into an early tough match against fifth seed Petra Kvitova and suffered a loss. Daria Gavrilova is pretty much the same with a round of sixteen appearance at Wuhan, having beaten Ostapenko in the opening round. Before that she met Karolina Pliskova in Tokyo and put in a great effort in a defeat, taking the fourth seed to three sets.
Predictions
We fancy going against the top seeds in the event this week. There’s not a great deal of temptation in any of them. So we are going along with a look at Daria Gavrilova at 14/1 each way* (betting odds taken on October 7th, 2018 at 3:11pm).
The other stand out player with the appeal is clearly Qiang Wang who is the most in-form player in the entire field and if she keeps up that hot momentum, can be well in contention.
