A place in the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Open will be at stake on Wednesday when top-seeded Qinwen Zheng takes on Moyuka Uchijima.
To get to this stage, Uchijima won a thriller versus Mika Stojsavljevic 6-4 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6), while Zheng is coming off losing the final of the Wuhan Open to Aryna Sabalenka 3-5 7-5 3-6.
Match preview
© Imago
Zheng is getting closer and closer to lifting another trophy, but not close enough, as she suffered a heartbreaking three-set defeat in front of the home fans at the Wuhan Open.
Since winning the Olympic gold medal in women's singles in Paris, the 22-year-old has made the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final in her next subsequent tournaments, and she will hope it goes a step further at this event.
Zheng is becoming accustomed to making deep runs on the hard court and has not been knocked out from a round of 16 clash on this surface since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat her in two sets at the Cincinnati Open earlier this year (5-7 1-6).
When her big serve is on, she is one of the most powerful women on tour, hitting 335 aces in 53 matches played this year and winning 76.7% of her service games.
With numbers like that, it is unsurprising to know that the 2024 US Open quarter-finalist boasts a first-serve winning percentage of 75.9%.
Her strong two-handed backhand has played a big part in her converting 47.4% of her break points for the year, and lately, that has been working for her quite effectively.
© Imago
Fans at Center Court experienced quite the match in the round of 32 as Moyuka Uchijima won a nail-biting, third-set tiebreaker to advance.
The 23-year-old hit eight double faults but managed to pull through by winning 63% of her second serves throughout the encounter.
She also survived conceding seven aces while hitting just one herself and was able to win half of her break-point opportunities (5/10).
This will be her first trip to the last 16 of a WTA singles event since May when she captured the ITF/Tennis Europe W100, defeating Leyre Romero Gormaz in the final (5-7 6-4 7-5).
Not since May of this year, at the ITF W100 in her native Japan, has she made it beyond the last 16 of a women's singles hard court tournament, winning that final versus Arina Rodionova in straight sets (6-3 6-3).
In just 15 matches this year, Uchijima has a first-serve percentage of 55% while winning only 52.4% of her service points in 2024.
Tournament so far
Moyuka Uchijima:
Round of 32: vs. Mika Sojsavljevic 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6)
We say: Zheng to win in two sets
As exciting as her previous match was at this tournament, Uchijima does not have the experience or overall game to trouble a player as well-rounded as Zheng.
Joel Lefevre
