The big match of the day in Tokyo saw Ana Ivanovic score her first victory over Victoria Azarenka since 2010, coming through 6-3 6-4.  Ivanovic went in as the favourite and continued to demonstrate her improvements this year by serving out the victory in one hour and 39 minutes.  Azarenka is someway near her best, but this was still a notable win for Ivanovic who will play Lucie Safarova in an intriguing quarter-final match.  In other news, i’m back from my holiday and feeling thoroughly miserable as not only did I bring back the lurgy, my next holiday isn’t until Christmas……………………

1. Jelena Jankovic v Garbine Muguruza (WTA Tokyo, R2)

2014 has been a superb year for Garbine Muguruza.  The Spaniard was sidelined for the second half of 2013 due to injury, but made a quick start in Australia where she won her first WTA title in Hobart and reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.  There have been ups and downs throughout the year, but the positives have definitely outweighed the negatives.  Muguruza lost to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of the US Open.  At the time, it was a bit of head scratcher, but now it makes sense.  Lucic-Baroni went on to defeat Simona Halep and then won her first WTA title since 1998 in Quebec City in arguably one of the most heart warming WTA storylines in 2014.  In her first match in Tokyo, Muguruza edged  past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two tight sets, 6-3 7-6(3).  When she is on the money, it is hard to pick out another WTA player who strikes the ball better than Muguruza.  On the other hand, big hitting comes with inconsistency.

Muguruza will play Jelena Jankovic in the second round.  JJ had a bye in the first round so Garbine will have an advantage in the sense that she already has a match under her belt.  Jankovic is searching for her first WTA title of the year and will have five opportunities in the upcoming weeks as she is on the entry list for Wuhan, Beijing, Tianjin and Moscow.  Jankovic won their only previous encounter at last year’s French Open, 6-3 6-0.  You would expect the scoreline to be much closer although Jankovic should be able to get enough balls back in play to frustrate Muguruza.

Prediction: Jankovic d. Muguruza in 3 sets

WTA Tokyo 2nd Round Predictions

Caroline Wozniacki d. Jarmila Gajdosova in 2 sets (1 tight, 1 easy)

Marina Erakovic d. Casey Dellacqua in 3 sets

Carla Suarez Navarro d. Daria Gavrilova in 2 tight sets