Naomi Osaka vs Elise Mertens Prediction & Betting Tips - WTA National Bank Open

Prediction published on 08/08/2024, 08:08  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 08/08/2024 at 08:10 in Tennis Predictions

World number 35 Elise Mertens will take on the wildcard Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Canadian Open. This will mark their third matchup this year and the winner will play Moyuka Uchijima or Liudmila Samsonova for a place in the quarter-finals. Here’s a preview for this match as well as our prediction.

Osaka returns to this WTA 1000 event after missing out last year. She made a strong start, defeating ninth seed Ons Jabeur by the loss of four games in the first round. The win ended a run of two successive losses.

Osaka, who has improved her record to 17-14, is a former Rogers Cup quarter-finalist. She achieved this finish in 2019. The former world number one has now moved up seven places in the live ranking to 88th. Osaka claimed her fourth win against Mertens back in June on grass in Hertogenbosch.

Elise Mertens has defeated Osaka twice before and both times, it was on a hard court. Her most recent success in this fixture in March at Indian Wells. In this run, she will be confident of prolonging her stay in Toronto past this round.

Mertens has not had the best of times whenever she competed in this event. In her last four appearances, she failed to progress past the second round and will hope for a change this time. A quarter-finalist here in 2018, the current world number 35 began her sixth appearance in Toronto with a straight-sets win.

Playing against the qualifier Katie Volynets, Mertens won by the loss of four games. This was the 20th win of a shaky season that has seen her lose 18 times.