Tennis - ATP & WTA Calendar: Chengdu, Hangzhou, Hua Hin, Seoul…Discover this week’s tournaments and our best bets!
by Bradley Gibbs | by Tyler Doty
There’s lots for fans and bettors to quench their tennis thirst this week, with the Chengdu Open and Hangzhou Open taking place on the ATP, plus the Korea Open and Thailand Open on the WTA. Let’s dive in.
Chengdu Open: Bublik to blow them away in China?
One of the two ATP tournaments taking place this week is the Chengdu Open, won last year by Alexander Zverev. The German won’t be defending his title, which means we’ll see a new champion of this event.
Tournament history:
- 2016: Karen Khachanov defeated Albert Ramos to become champion
- 2017: Denis Istomin defeated Marco Baghdatis to become champion
- 2018: Bernard Tomic defeated Fabio Fognini to become champion
- 2019: Pablo Carreno Busta defeated Alexander Bublik to become champion
- 2023: Alexander Zverev defeated Roman Safiullin to become champion
With the highest ranked player in the tournament being world number 19 Lorenzo Musetti, this must be seen as an opportunity to do well by quite a few players, including Musetti himself, who is the top seed.
For my money, Alexander Bublik is the man to side with. The Kazakh player is the second seed and has every right to be thought of as a danger to all.
Often inconsistent but undeniably talented, the showman often wows crowds with his audacious play, and we know he’s effective on hard courts. Three of his four ATP titles have come on this surface, while he’s previously reached the final of this tournament.
Being on the seemingly less demanding side of the draw, this is a big chance for the world number 27 to show us that he’s a serious competitor.
Our Chengdu Open prediction: Alexander Bublik to win
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Hangzhou Open: Can Khachanov get it done?
Also in China, the Hangzhou Open, which is a new tournament, gets underway. Like the Chengdu Open, this is a competition missing many of the big dogs, so it goes down as an opportunity for those not quite at the very top end of the game to do well.
Top-seed Holger Rune, who is easily the highest-ranked player involved may be feeling the pressure to perform, while you could say the same for Karen Khachanov, who is the second seed.
As shown above, Khachanov was successful in the far east back in 2016, while we saw that he’s still very much a hard-court player to take seriously earlier this year, when the Russian emerged victorious from the event in Doha.
Throw in that the world number 23 won an event in China last season and it’s easy to feel that this is a man who is going to go very far this week.
Our Hangzhou Open prediction: Karen Khachanov to win
Thailand Open: Czech dominance expected in Thailand
Moving on to the WTA. The Thailand Open will take place in Hua Hin, where several players will be hoping to impress.
We saw an early upset on Monday, as top-seed Dayana Yastremska, who won this tournament in 2019, was dumped out by an unseeded player.
Tournament history:
- 2019: Dayana Yastremska defeat Ajla Tomljanovic to become champion
- 2020: Magda Linette defeated Leonie King to become champion
- 2023: Zhu Lin defeat Lesia Tsurenko to become champion
- 2024: Diana Schnaider defeated Zhu Lin to become champion
Thanks to a scheduling change, this will be the second renewal of this tournament, following Diana Schnaider’s win back in February.
Schnaider won’t be in attendance, and the trophy won't be ending up in Russian hands this time, with no players from that country still standing after the first round. Instead, Czech player, Siniakova could have this tournament at her mercy.
Following the first-round dismissal of Yastremska, Siniakova must fancy herself to go all the way this week. The 28-year-old has been in decent hard-court form of late, while she knows all about playing well in this part of the world.
Towards the end of 2023, we saw Siniakova get her hands on silverware at the WTA event in Nanchang, beating Bouzkova in the final. She also reached the final in Hong Kong last season, so don’t be surprised if she’s there fighting at the end of this tournament.
Our Thailand Open prediction: Katerina Siniakova to win
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Korea Open: Diana to do it in Seoul
Last but certainly not least we have tennis predictions for the Korea Open, which has been won by some top players in recent times.
Tournament history:
- 2022*: Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Jelena Ostapenko to become champion
- 2023: Jessica Pegula defeated Yuan Yue to become champion
There’s a strong line-up in the South Korean capital of Seoul this week, with lots of familiar names through to the second round, including top seed Daria Kasatkina.
The world number 13 is the highest-ranked player on the bill, but she’s got them stacking up in behind her, with fellow Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who is ranked 15th, coming in as the second seed.
Completing a Russian one, two, three in the seeding is Diana Schnaider, who has looked like a very strong competitor on hard courts recently.
She made the second week at the US Open, going down to the eventual runner-up, while she recently reached the semi-finals in Toronto too, which came shortly after her semi-final appearance in Miami. It’s fair to say that she’s a player to take very seriously.
Earlier this year, she tasted eastern success when winning the Thailand Open, while she reached the semis in China in Nanchang late last year too.
*results since the tournament gained WTA 250 status.
Our Korea Open prediction: Diana Schnaider to win
