China Open 2024: Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds, and pick
Match Details
Fixture: Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti
Tournament: China Open 2024
Round: First Round (Round of 128)
Venue: National Tennis Center, Beijing, China
Category: WTA 1000
Surface: Hard
Prize Money: $8,955,610
Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Sky Sports | Canada - TSN
Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti preview
Four-time Major champion Naomi Osaka will face Lucia Bronzetti in the first round of the China Open 2024.
Osaka returned from maternity leave at the start of the season, and her comeback was off to a slow start. She bowed out in the first round from three of her first four tournaments, including the Australian Open.
The former World No. 1 had a better result at the Qatar Open, where she made the last eight. She then reached the third round of the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open.
Osaka's best showing during the clay swing was a fourth-round finish at the Italian Open, another WTA 1000 event. She almost pulled off the impossible and beat Iga Swiatek in the second round of the French Open. However, she let go of a match point and lost the match in three sets.
Osaka capped off her time on grass with a second-round loss to Emma Navarro at Wimbledon. She made a second-round exit from the Canadian Open and crashed out in the qualifying rounds of the Cincinnati Open. She beat Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the US Open before losing to Karolina Muchova.
Bronzetti tallied her best result of the season a couple of weeks ago by reaching the semifinals of the Jasmin Open. Her other notable results include a third-round appearance at the Indian Wells Open and a quarterfinal showing at the Morocco Open.
Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti head-to-head
Osaka leads Bronzetti 1-0 in the head-to-head. She won their previous encounter at this year's French Open in three sets.
Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Naomi Osaka vs Lucia Bronzetti prediction
After a disappointing US Open series, Osaka will aim to turn things around in Asia. She's a former champion at the China Open, winning the title in 2019 with impressive wins over the likes of Bianca Andreescu and Ashleigh Barty.
Osaka's inability to close out sets and matches on her first attempt has often put her in a spot of bother this year. She had a comfortable 4-0 lead in the third set against Bronzetti at the French Open and then dropped the next five games before recovering.
Osaka found it tough to do the same against Swiatek and rued the missed match point after the latter staged a comeback. However, there's no way to get that killer instinct back other than by playing more and more matches.
Bronzetti is prone to getting blown off the court by big hitters and is often unable to cope with their powerful groundstrokes. If she couldn't get the better of Osaka on clay, her least favored surface, there's a slim chance she would do it on hardcourts, where she excels.
Pick: Naomi Osaka to win in straight sets.