Finals between two unseeded players can look unappealing at first glance, but this one definitely doesn’t. On the one hand you’ve got someone who’s been crushing almost every opponent of late, trying to stand up against someone who might be among the elite of the sport in the not-so-distant future. Who will take home the title at the 2022 WTA Tokyo Open?
WTA Tokyo Final Prediction
Liudmila Samsonova vs Zheng Qinwen
Head-to-head: Zheng 1-0
Liudmila Samsonova’s incredible run started at the beginning of August. The Russian owns a 17-1 win/loss record since, capturing WTA Tour titles in Washington and Cleveland. Her only loss came at the hands of Ajla Tomljanovic in round four at the US Open. Up until that point, her season had been rather unimpressive (outside of Stuttgart and her fantastic battle against Iga Swiatek). But that’s the kind of player Samsonova is – streaky, but extremely dangerous when on her game.
This is the first WTA Tour final for Qinwen Zheng, but the 19yo Chinese prodigy has never lost a championship match since turning pro. She contested eight of them in ITF events (two 60Ks; five 25Ks; one 15K) and one in a WTA 125K in Valencia earlier this year. Zheng had to put away Veronika Kudermetova in a third-set tie-breaker in the semifinals, while Samsonova is yet to drop a single set. She needed a couple of tie-breaks against Xinyu Wang and Shuai Zhang (both are Zheng’s compatriots).
The Chinese won their only head-to-head meeting in Palermo last year, but a slow clay court is certainly more up her alley than it is for Samsonova. Both possess excellent serves and try to be on top of the rallies from the get-go. Samsonova has more raw firepower, while Zheng relies on taking the ball early and taking time away from the opponent. The pressure the Russian can put on her opponent in the rallies should be a bit higher, especially now that she’s on a hot streak like this. It also remains to be seen how Zheng handles the occasion. While she’s got a 9-0 record in professional finals, it’s a pretty big jump from the 125K level to a WTA 500 event.
Prediction: Samsonova in 3
Main photo:
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