Karolina Muchova vs Anna Blinkova - China Open Beijing Tennis Prediction and Pick 9/26/24

Karolina Muchova didn’t start the season in January like most of her peers because of a wrist injury. In fact, after competing at last year’s US Open, Muchova spent the remainder of last season in the treatment room and had to delay her return until this year’s grass-court swing.

She fell outside the Top 50 but only briefly because of the huge number of points she lost during the clay-court swing in which she was absent. Having recovered from surgery, Muchova has done well to keep her ranking inside the Top 50 after the 2024 US Open, where she came so close to reaching her second Grand Slam final but lost to Jessica Pegula.

Anna Blinkova is currently ranked 78th in the WTA rankings, which is a long way off her career-high ranking of No. 34. The 26-year-old Russian has played twice at the China Open in the past but failed to advance beyond the second round stage.

Blinkova has a poor record in 2024, winning 11 of 36 matches across all levels. She arrives in Beijing having lost nine matches in a row. Her best result of the season was in reaching the quarterfinal in Bad Homburg in late June. It was in that tournament that she last won a Tour-level match.

Karolina Muchova vs Anna Blinkova Head-To-Head

• Muchova and Blinkova have no previous history. This will be their first official head-to-head meeting.

Karolina Muchova vs Anna Blinkova Prediction

I just can't see where Blinkova is going to win a match before the end of the season unless she can drop down to the lower tiers and resuscitate her confidence against inferior opponents. Muchova doesn’t defend any points between now and the end of 2024, so she will want to get her ranking moving in the right direction and should comfortably win this match.