Qinwen Zheng vs Moyuka Uchijima Prediction: China’s Rising Star Faces Japan’s Determined Hopeful in a High-Stakes Encounter

The WTA 500 Tokyo tournament presents an exciting Round of 16 match between China's Qinwen Zheng, positioned world No. 7, and Japan's own talent, Moyuka Uchijima, positioned at No. 57. Since both players have different styles, this match is really a promise of a dynamic duel between Zheng's explosive power and Uchijima's consistency with a tactical approach. A win for either player in this tournament will leave a mark in its later stages, with Zheng coming as the overwhelming favorite, and at home, Uchijima's resilience might just spark an upset. We now give an elaborate preview of the match.

Qinwen Zheng has been among the brightest young stars on tour, ranking in the top 10 on account of her pitilessly aggressive baseline game combined with a big serve. While she lost a tight finale to Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA Wuhan, her recent form-8 wins from her last 10 matches-suggests that she is at an all-time high. She is capable of attacking from both wings and is thus able to keep the pressure on her opponents continuously, which no doubt makes her a dangerous contender.

For Qinwen Zheng, the key to this match will be leveraging her powerful first serve and aggressive groundstrokes to dictate the tempo from the baseline. Her performance in Wuhan against Sabalenka showed she can hold her own against the very best. However, her first-serve percentage-45% in the last match-will surely need to come up. The second serve has been a chink in Zheng's armor, converting a mere 32% of second-serve points in her last outing. Thus, higher first-serve percentage will be key to avoid giving too many break opportunities to Uchijima.

Coming into this contest, world No. 57-ranked Moyuka Uchijima is coming off a confidence-boosting three-set victory against Mika Stojsavljevic. Inconsistent these days, with 5 wins and 5 losses in her last 10 matches, Uchijima bases her game on a high first-serve percentage and well-crafted baseline exchanges. With the support of a friendly home crowd, she will try using her defensive skills and speed to elongate rallies and perturb Zheng.

The plan of action for Moyuka Uchijima is going to be to continuously send the balls back and make Zheng work on longer rallies. Serving at a decent 60% first-serve success rate and winning 52% of second-serve points in her last match, Uchijima has to hold tight with her serve and pounce on Zheng's lesser second serves. Uchijima's defense will be put to the test by Zheng's power, but if she can weather the early storm and extend points, Zheng's propensity to double fault could creep in-in her last match, she hit eight.

On paper, Qinwen Zheng will be the favourite to come out on top in this encounter. With her higher ranking and form of late, she can easily take control of rallies with her big forehands and serves, and Uchijima will find it tough to match up. Zheng lost to Sabalenka recently, pretty tight, but managed to hit 5 aces and win 75% of her first-serve points to justify she can hold up quick points on serve. However, a first-serve percentage of 45% and hitting 8 double faults is not a very encouraging result from the last match against an opponent like Uchijima, who scores well off consistency.

She will be hoping to capitalize on whatever inconsistency Zheng shows. If Uchijima can keep going her good first-serve percentage of 60% and use Zheng's vulnerability on second serves, she might just be able to extend the rallies and thereby force the Chinese star into making unforced errors. Certainly, a good return game, particularly off Zheng's second serve, is likely to prove critical for Uchijima. Given that she won 46% of the second-serve return points in her last match, this might prove one way for Uchijima to continue to disrupt Zheng's rhythm.

• Qinwen Zheng Wins & Under 19.5 Games @ 1.6 Odds
• Under 18.5 Games @ 1.77 Odds
• Under 18.5 Games @ 1.83 Odds