I had my preview all written for Wednesday as I thought I had guessed the schedule for Tokyo correctly… wrong! The highlight of the tournament so far will see Victoria Azarenka take on Ana Ivanovic, which is not before 9am in the UK.  There are two other tournaments this week in Guangzhou and Seoul.  After completion of the first round matches in Guangzhou, just one seed remains. Of the 16 players left, half of them are ranked outside of the top 100 and five of them in the 200’s! The likes of Yafan Wang, Kai-Lin Zhang, Ling Zhang, Yi-Fan Xu and Lin Zhu will all be competing in the second round.  There are four Chinese players left in the draw and that is WITHOUT Li, Peng, Zheng or Zhang in the draw… impressive.

1. Victoria Azarenka v Ana Ivanovic (WTA Tokyo, R2)

Victoria Azarenka booked her place in the last 16 of Tokyo with a 3-6 6-0 6-2 victory over home favourite Kimiko Date-Krumm.  It was another unconvincing display from Vika, but a win is a win.  KDK deserves a mention for being generally awesome.  Azarenka now takes on Ana Ivanovic who as as a top four seed, had a bye into the second round.  All in all, it has been a super year for Ivanovic.  She has played the top ten players so much better this year with five top ten victories including wins over Serena Willliams in Australia and Maria Sharapova in Rome and Cincy. However, despite impressing in pre-Grand Slam tournaments, she has been disappointing at the last three Grand Slams.   At the US Open, she was defeated in straight sets by Karolina Pliskova in the second round.

Azarenka leads the H2H with Ivanovic 5-2.  Their last match came at the US Open in 2013 where Azarenka came from a set down to win, 4-6 6-3 6-4.  Ivanovic’s last victory over Azarenka came in Cincy, a come-from-behind victory, 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 in 2010.  Azarenka has an advantage in that she has played a match in Tokyo and Ivanovic has only played two matches since reaching the final in Cincy.  As Vika still struggles to find her best form, Ivanovic goes in as the clear favourite.  There is likely to be some pressure for Ivanovic because a victory over Azarenka is still a big deal.  I’d still take Ana for the win though..

Prediction: Ivanovic d. Azarenka in 2 tight sets

WTA Guangzhou 2nd Round Predictions

Yafan Wang d. Petra Martic in 2 sets

Alison Riske d. Kai-Lin Zhang in 3 sets

Monica Niculescu d. Misaki Doi in 2 sets

Monica Puig d. Ling Zhang in 3 sets

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor d. Yi-Fan Xu in 2 sets

Silvia Soler-Espinosa d. Timea Bacsinszky in 3 tight sets

Lin Zhu d. Su-Wei Hsieh in 3 sets

Alize Cornet d. Shahar Peer in 2 sets

WTA Seoul 2nd Round Predictions

Agnieszka Radwanska d. Chanelle Scheepers in 2 sets

Varvara Lepchenko d. Na-Lae Han in 2 sets

Mona Barthel d. Christina McHale in 2 sets

Karolina Pliskova d. Anna-Lena Friedsam in 3 sets