One of the most fascinating first-round matchups at the US Open features the recent Olympic champion taking on an American player, with Qinwen Zheng up against Amanda Anisimova.
The US Open is traditionally a place where US players play really well. Amanda Anisimova is one of those players, and she’ll have a really decent chance to win this one. Playing at her home slam should motivate her, and the crowd will also back her.
We’ll break down why our Zheng vs Anisimova betting and prediction ended up being an upset, so read on.
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Player form: Both red-hot in New York
Zheng has played some amazing tennis leading up to this event. She did brilliant at the Olympics, winning gold, but less so recently at the Cincinnati Masters. That’s why she’s only a minor favourite in this one.
Anisimova played more recently and did really well. She made the Canadian Open final but lost to Jessia Pegula. Even so, she has had better, more recent hard court results than Zheng, which is important.
How the bookies view it: Zheng, just
As expected, the Chinese player is favoured to win that match with odds of 3/5. What these odds tell us, however, is that Zheng is not overwhelmingly favoured. Anisimova to win is a competitive 7/5, so her chances are pretty solid.
It mostly comes down to her recent success on the hard courts. Zheng did win one match in Cincinnati, but she was pretty poor in the second one, which gave some people pause.
Recent head-to-head: Nothing to see here
Zheng and Anisimova have not played before on the WTA Tour.
Anything else catch the eye?
One of the things that makes Anisimova a proper threat to Zheng is how they match up stylistically. Zheng is an aggressive baseline who will bombard from the baseline but Anisimova does really well against those players.
She has the power and precision to turn things around on you. That’s how she beat Aryna Sabalenka in Toronto. Another important aspect is the serve. Zheng has a powerful serve that does a lot of damage.
The only issue is that she doesn’t hit it at a high percentage most of the time. That means Anisimova will see plenty of slower second serves that she can attack. If she does that well, winning will be much easier.
Qinwen Zheng vs Amanda Anisimova betting tips & predictions
Our prediction here is that Anisimova will upset Zheng. She’s played better recently, done well at the US Open in the past, and will have the crowd support.
They match up well, and Zheng's frequent woeful serving could prove costly against a great hitter like Anisimova. Unless an off-day happens for the American, she should have a good chance here.
- Amisinova to win @ 7/5
- Amisinova to win 2-0 @ 3/1
The match will be played on Monday, August 26th, at 11am local time.
Bren is our resident Kiwi, and has been playing or watching sports down under in New Zealand for the better part of three decades. With 12+ years experience as a professional writer, Bren loves to dive deep into all things sport to bring the best betting analysis and predictions here at Mr Fixits Tips.
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