Jennifer Brady vs Naomi Osaka Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Australian Open

Prediction published on 18/02/2021, 09:14  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 18/02/2021 at 10:41 in Tennis Predictions

History could repeat itself when Naomi Osaka takes on Jennifer Brady in the Australian Open final. Osaka won the US Open in 2018 and then followed that up by winning this tournament. She won in New York again last year, now she can try to win the Australian Open for the second time. The third seed had a great straight sets win over Serena Williams in her semi-final. That was another convincing win and she has made this final despite a tough draw. Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Garbine Muguruza and Hsieh Su-wei in the quarter finals have all been swept aside. Only Muguruza has been able to take a set off her in this tournament. That was the only match that the Japanese player has had in this tournament that hasn't had under 20.5 games played in it. When Osaka gets past the fourth round of a Grand Slam, she goes on to win the tournament. That is looking very likely here.

Jennifer Brady has been rising up the world rankings in the past few months. When the WTA circuit made its return in the second half of last year, Brady suddenly found some great form and has become a hard player to beat. Brady won the Top Seed tournament, reached the last four of the US Open where she was beaten in three sets by Naomi Osaka. Since then, Brady has reached two more semi-finals, including one this year. Her ranking is due to rise from 24 to 13 and it'll be 12 if winning this match. Not bad considering she ended 2019 as the world number 55. Brady has only lost two sets in this tournament, both being the first set of matches against Jessica Pegula in the quarter final and Karolina Muchova in the last four. What is noticeable about Brady is her lack of wins over the very best in the game. Only twice did she beat top ten ranked players last year. Osaka has won two of her three previous games against Brady. The only loss was seven years ago and Osaka has improved massively since then. Go for under 20.5 games to be played in this match as that has far better odds than just backing Osaka to win.