Jason Collins
Dailysports's expert
Coco Gauff
Zheng Qinwen
At the final tournament in Saudi Arabia a pair of finalists have been determined, Coco Gauff - Zheng Qinwen will fight for the title. I offer my prediction for this exciting battle, will the match be long?
Coco Gauff
The American tennis player won only two tournaments this season, in Auckland and Beijing, she played well at the majors, but she failed to win a slam. Gauff is now 20 years old and is ranked third in the world rankings.
She started this tournament with a confident victory over fellow countrywoman Jessica Pegula - 6:3, 6:2, and then managed to beat the formidable Polish Iga Swiatek - 6:3, 6:4. After these successes, a trip to the semifinals was guaranteed, partly this can explain the defeat of Krejcikova - 5:7, 4:6, because of which Gauff became the second in the quartet. In the semifinals she had to face world number one Aryna Sobolenko, the American managed to win in two sets - 7:6, 6:3.
Zheng Qinwen
The Chinese woman has not won any majors this season, although the “gold” of the Olympic Games is a great alternative, in addition, she managed to take the titles in Tokyo and Palermo. Zheng is 22 years old, she is the seventh racket of the world.
This tournament the athlete began with a defeat from Sobolenko - 3:6, 4:6, in the second meeting defeated Rybakina - 7:6, 3:6, 6:1. The decisive battle at the group stage was against Paolini, who was defeated 6:1, 6:1. So the Chinese woman became the second in her group, which allowed to go to the Czech Krejcikova, Zheng justified the status of the favorite, winning - 6:3, 7:5.
Facts about the match
- Gauff has 34 wins in 44 meetings on hard court this season.
- Zheng has won 32 of 43 matches on the artificial surface.
- Quotes for this match are as follows: W1 - 1.61, W2 - 2.43.
H2H
Tennis players crossed paths only once, the match took place this year at the ground tournament in Rome, then Gauff won 7:6, 6:1.
Prediction
In this confrontation Gauff is considered a slight favorite, but two strong young tennis players from the top-10 meet. I expect a difficult and unpredictable match, which can drag on. I consider a bet on a total of more than 21.5 games to be acceptable.
