Karolina Muchova vs Belinda Bencic Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA Cincinnati Open

Prediction published on 19/08/2021, 11:25  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 19/08/2021 at 12:25 in Tennis Predictions

Belinda Bencic is playing her first event since becoming Olympic champion. The tenth seed takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova for a place in the quarter finals against either second seed Naomi Osaka or unseeded Jil Tiechmann. Bencic reached the final of a grass court tournament held in Berlin but lost in the first round at Wimbledon. Her form was totally turned around though as the Swiss player beat Marketa Vondrousova to win an Olympic gold medal. This is her first tournament since then and the first round in Cincinnati again saw her face Vondrousova, winning in straight sets. The second round saw her beat Shelby Rogers, again without losing a set.

Karolina Muchova began the week ranked 23rd, 11 places below her opponent who she is playing for the first time. Muchova started 2021 in 27th place but was as high as 19th in May. Earlier this year, Muchova reached the last four at the Australian Open with wins over Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova and Elise Mertens. Muchova also made it to the last eight at Wimbledon but has only played one more tournament before this week. That saw her lose in the first round last week to Oceane Dodin who was ranked 109th at the time. This week has seen better form with wins over Johanna Konta and seventh seeded Bianca Andreescu. Bencic is again playing well and she can get the win here.