Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Women’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction
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Naomi Osaka, Ash Barty and Aryna Sabalenka
The Tokyo Olympics will finally commence from July 23 after 5 years of wait. The main draw matches will start from July 24 with Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka leading the women’s singles field.
Tournament Details:
- Tournament: Tokyo Olympics
- Date: July 24-August 1, 2021
- Number of Entrants: 64 (Singles), 32 (Doubles)
- Venue: Tokyo, Japan
- Surface: Hard Court
- Prize Money: $0
Top Seeds at Tokyo Olympics
- Ashleigh Barty
- Naomi Osaka
- Aryna Sabalenka
- Elina Svitolina
- Karolina Plsikova
Tokyo Olympics: Draw Prediction
Top Half
The top half of the draw will be headlined the Wimbledon Champion and World No.1 Ashleigh Barty. She will face Sara Tormo Sorribes in the opening round and will go onto face either Fiona Ferro or Anastasija Sevastova in the second round. Barty has been drawn against French Open runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who opens against Italian Sara Errani. Barty and Pavlyuchenkova are expected to meet in the Round of 16.
French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova will take on Kazakh Zarina Diyas in the first round and is drawn against 9th seed Belinda Bencic who playsJessica Pegula in a tough first round match. The winner of the bracket will go on to face Ash Barty in the quarterfinal.
Third seed Aryna Sabalenka will take on Magda Linette of Poland in the first round. The Belarussian is expected to face the winner of Caroline Garcia vs Donna Vekic. Elena Rybakina will open against Samantha Stosur and could go on to face Sabalenka in the Round of 16.
Former Wimbledon champion and 7th seed Garbine Muguruza will face Russian Veronika Kudermetova in the opening round with the winner expected to face Chinese Qiang Wang in the second round. 10th seed Petra Kvitova will lock horns with Jasmine Paolini in the first round and it could be the battle of two former Wimbledon champions- Kvitova and Muguruza in the Round of 16. The winner will most probably face Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinal.
First semifinal prediction: Ashleigh Barty vs Aryna Sabalenka
Bottom Half
Home favorite and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka will begin her campaign against Saisai Zheng and is expected to face Viktorija Golubic in the second round. 16th seed Kiki Bertens will be up against Marketa Vondrousova in the first round and will most probably face Alison Riske in the second round. The winner will go on to face Naomi Osaka in the third round.
8th seed Iga Swiatek will face world no.210 Mona Barthel in the first round and can face Paula Badosa in the second round. The Pole is drawn alongwith Elise Mertens who faces Ekaterina Aleksandrova in the first round. Mertens and Swiatek are expected to clash in the third round.
Newly wed Elina Svitolina will take on Laura Siegemund in the first round and will go on to face either Ajla Tomljanovic or Yaroslava Shvedova in the second round. Hard hitting Greek, Maria Sakkari faces Anett Kontaveit in a tricky first round clash. Sakkari and Svitolina could meet in the third round.
Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Pliskova takes on Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in the opening round, with the winner facing the winner of Ons Jabeur vs Carla Suarez Navarro, another spicy first round match. Australian Open runner-up Jennifer Brady faces Camila Giorgi in the first round and has been handed a relatively easy draw. She is expected to face Pliskova in the Round of 16, with the winner facing Svitolina in the last 8.
Second semifinal prediction: Jennifer Brady vs Naomi Osaka
Semifinals
Ashleigh Barty will be up against Aryna Sabalenka in the first semifinal. The two are amongst the best olayers on the WTA tours currently and will push each other to the absolute limit. Barty will have a slight edge given her current form and that should take her into the final.
The second semifinal will be the repeat of the 2021 Australian Open final between Naomi Osaka and Jennifer Brady. The Japanese will be fresh and will have extra motivation playing on home soil. She is expected to cruise into the gold medal match.
Tokyo Olympics Final: Ashleigh Barty vs Naomi Osaka
Gold Medal Match
The two best players in the world, Ash Barty and Naomi Osaka will battle it out for the Gold. Barty has been in the form of her life while Osaka has won the last 2 hard court grand slams- The US Open and Australian Open. The match is expected to go down the distance with Osaka clinching Gold on her home soil.
Medalists:
- Gold- Naomi Osaka
- Silver- Ashleigh Barty
- Bronze- Aryna Sabalenka
Also read: Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction
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Lakshya Chopra
(2611 Articles Published)