Samsonova vs Muguruza: prediction for the WTA Tokyo match

Liudmila Samsonova is playing at Tokyo after a successful performance in American hard tournaments. Russian player has won two consecutive tournaments at Washington and Cleveland, she also reached the round of 16 at US Open. 

At the start of Japanese tournament Samsonova had to face Rybakina. A reliable serving performance helped Liudmila to secure a 6:2, 6:4 victory. In the second round she had a more difficult match against Wang Xinyu (7:6, 6:3). 

Garbine Muguruza has been on a long slump, she failed to get past the second round in any of ten consecutive tournaments. However, she managed to reach the third round of US Open and got eliminated by Kvitova (7:5, 3:6, 6:7).

Spanish player started the Tokyo tournament with a second round match against Papamichail (6:4, 6:2). Muguruza has a chance to finally put up a successful performance at Tokyo, she has good memories about that tournament - she reached the semi-final twice at local courts.