2019 WTA Tianjin Open Odds and Preview: Kenin Favored in China

• The Tianjin Open is an international level WTA tennis tournament
• 2018 champion, Caroline Garcia will look to defend her title
• Get the odds, our pick, and all the info you need for this tournament

The 2019 Tianjin Open will take place October 7-13 in Tianjin, China. The tournament was founded in 2014, and plays on outdoor hard courts. Being a WTA international tournament, the event will offer up 280 WTA ranking points to the winner. Because the race to Shenzhen is so incredibly close, these points become vital to the players competing.

2019 Tianjin Open Odds

*Odds taken 10/5/2019. 

Hometown Favorites

A handful of hometown favorites, including 2016 champion, Peng Shuai will be competing in this years tournament. Wang Qiang, Zhang Shuai, Zheng SaiSai, and Wang Yafan are among those of the hometown favorites. These players will be looking to put on a good show for all the local fans. The tournament’s location holds just 3500 seats, so it can be quite an intimate, fan-heavy tournament.

2 DAYS TO GO! Our #2 seed Wang Qiang! The Tianjin local looking to win her first @wta Tianjin Open 🇨🇳#tianjinopen #tennis #wta #ittakes pic.twitter.com/DgniOF12y9

— Tianjin Open (@TianjinOpen) October 5, 2019

The bottom half of the draw, coincidentally, holds a lot of the hometown favorites, and is not as competitive at the top half. The top half has both Venus Williams and defending champion, Caroline Garcia. So having the bottom half being a bit less competitive, the hope of Wang Qiang moving deep into the tournament is very high.

Defending Champion

2018 Tianjin Open champion Caroline Garcia will be looking to defending her title at this year’s tournament. Coming in in the middle of the pack with +1400 odds, Garcia is hoping that not only will she be competitive at the tournament, but repeat as champion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BSCsqw2X94

Garcia hasn’t been playing with the same amount of aggression and spark that she was playing with a mere 12 months ago when she won this particular tournament. It will take quite a bit from her in order to repeat as champion. The positive side of this, is that if she were to have success at this tournament, she wouldn’t have to face someone along the lines of Karolina Pliskova, as she had to in last year’s finals.

Past Five Tianjin Open Champions

Star Power

Originally, this year’s tournament was going to have an unusual amount of star power to its name. The Hong Kong Tennis Open was canceled due to political unrest in the country, which originally brought over some fairly notable and recognizable names. This has changed once again prior to the tournament starting, which happens fairly frequently. Naomi Osaka was expected to play in Tianjin, but having gone all the way to the finals at the China Open, it’s too hard for her to compete in this as well.

WILDCARD ANNOUNCEMENT! 🇨🇳’s @duanyingying888 is joining Peng Shuai & Sam Stosur as main draw wildcards 🥰

Unfortunately Naomi Osaka, Sloane Stephens, Aryna Sabalenka, Amanda Anisimova, Hsieh Su-Wei, Elise Mertens & Alison Riske have all withdrawn#tianjinopen #tianjin @WTA pic.twitter.com/s5EWK41Mfr

— Tianjin Open (@TianjinOpen) October 4, 2019

The tournament is still being played by both Venus Williams, who has +1200 odds, and Sofia Kenin, whose odds are the best going into the tournament at +350. Williams will be making her tournament debut this year, and with seven Grand Slams under her belt, she is arguably the most dangerous unseeded player in this tournament.

Who Do You Take?

This tournament is a bit tricky to answer this question. As spectators, we’re being introduced to a handful of players who we haven’t seen much of, or at all for that matter, so we’re not sure their style of play.

Kenin of the United States is an easy take with +350 odds, but any of these hometown favorites could give her trouble. Defending champions are always something to keep an eye on. But Garcia and Peng Shuai have been here before, and in a winning capacity, which always adds an advantage in matches. So, depending on how she bounces back from a few tough loses recently, Garcia could win it all again and repeat as champion.

Pick: Garcia (+1400)