{"id":23177,"date":"2020-01-19T00:03:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T05:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=23177"},"modified":"2020-01-19T21:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-20T02:35:32","slug":"australian-open-day-1-womens-predictions-osaka-bouzkova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2020\/01\/19\/australian-open-day-1-womens-predictions-osaka-bouzkova\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open Day 1 Women’s Predictions Including Naomi Osaka vs Marie Bouzkova"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 1 of the Australian Open is about to begin. The first Grand Slam of the season season is here, and LWOT writers will offer our thoughts. Not only did we do a roundtable set of predictions<\/a>, but we will do match-by-match predictions for as much as we can throughout the tournament. On Day 1, we have five sets of predictions for you. Each set includes four matches. In addition to this one, we also have sets featuring Kristie Ahn vs Caroline Wozniacki<\/a>, Ashleigh Barty vs Leisa Tsurenko<\/a>, Anastasia Potapova vs Serena Williams<\/a>, and Venus Williams vs Coco Gauff<\/a>. Predicting this set of matches are Tracey Essex, myself (Yesh Ginsburg), and Jim Smith.<\/p>\n

Australian Open Day 1 Women’s Predictions<\/h2>\n

Margarita Gasparyan vs Maria Sakkari<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Tracey:<\/em>
\nNeither Adelaide nor Brisbane proved fruitful for the competitive Grecian star. And, Russia\u2019s Margarita Gasparyan\u2019s single match of 2020 saw her claim a mere three games. Neither player is in form and playing at the level of which they\u2019re capable. But, Sakkari\u2019s fight and determination will see her live to fight another day.
\nPrediction: Sakkari in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesh:<\/em>
\nSakkari is a very solid player and can beat just about anyone. She gets somewhat outplayed against the very elite players, but hits past and wears down just about everyone else. Gasparyan is a potential elite player, but she’s not there yet or consistent enough.
\nPrediction: Sakkari in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Jim:<\/em>
\nMargarita Gasparyan is a great player to watch and she can be tough to stay with when she\u2019s at her best. But when she\u2019s not, she is picked off all too easily. Maria Sakkari, in contrast, established herself as one of the WTA\u2019s most consistent performers last season. With the large Greek population in Melbourne certain to give her their fulsome backing, expect Sakkari to advance comfortably enough.
\nPrediction: Sakkari in 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>