Yosuke Watanuki and Sho Shimabukuro will play each other in the 2nd round of the Kobe Challenger for the 4th time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Thursday at 1:30 pm on CENTRE COURT. In the following paragraphs, you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Yosuke Watanuki who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Yosuke Watanuki is the pick to win this match.
Yosuke Watanuki -> 1.48
Sho Shimabukuro -> 2.57
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Prediction and head to head Yosuke Watanuki vs. Sho Shimabukuro
This will be the 4th time that Yosuke Watanuki and Sho Shimabukuro clash against each other. The head to head is 2-1 for Watanuki (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on indoor hard courts.
The last time that they fought against each other, Shimabukuro won 7-6(7) 6-0 in the quarter in the Nonthaburi 3 Challenger back in September 2022.
Yosuke Watanuki
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31-24 | 18-18 | 0-0 | 6-1 | 7-5 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 11-11 | 9-8 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 43-23 | 29-12 | 7-5 | 1-2 | 6-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 40-22 | 19-11 | 6-4 | 15-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 18-17 | 8-9 | 2-3 | 6-4 | 2-1 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 195, Yousuke got to the 2nd round after defeating Yunseong Chung 6-2 6-2.
In the 1st round, The Japanese had a good straight sets win against Chung (6-2 6-2). During the match, Watanuki scored 62 points vs Chung’s 37. Yousuke was very aggressive to blast 19 winners.
Talking about the service games, Watanuki scored 8 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Yosuke Watanuki was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 79% (19/24) of his 1st serve and 74% (17/23) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Watanuki broke Chung 4 times after converting 40% of his break points (4/10).
Watanuki has a solid record in the last 8 years having won 60% of his matches (167-113). 11-7 on indoor hard courts in 2022. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, Watanuki has a composed48-20 record in the last 8 years on indoor hard courts.
Watanuki’s best result of the year was getting to the final in the Yokohama Challenger.
Watanuki has an aggregate 31-22 win-loss record in 2022, 11-7 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Kobe Challenger
Sho Shimabukuro
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34-23 | 29-19 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 3-3 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 30-28 | 21-17 | 1-3 | 3-5 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 43-26 | 19-17 | 7-1 | 9-4 | 8-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 42-25 | 38-20 | 0-2 | 4-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 31-20 | 28-18 | 0-0 | 3-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 284 (career-high), Shimabukuro reached the 2nd round after defeating Yasutaka Uchiyama 5-1 ret..
In the 1st round against Uchiyama, the Japanese had a free pass after Uchiyama retired on a 5-1 . scoreline.
Sho’s best result of the current season was getting to the final in M25 Monastir and M25 Harmon.
The Japanese has a compiled 40-23 win-loss record in 2022, 4-2 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Watanuki | Shimabukuro |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 1 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 |
| Tot Games | 16 | 6 |
| Pts | 62-37 | 22-16 |
| Total Points | 99 | 38 |
| Winners | 19 | 9 |
| %Winners | 31% | 41% |
Both Watanuki and Shimabukuro played 1 match. Both players have not conceded a single set in this event so far. Talking about their workload, Watanuki and Shimabukuro have played the same amount of sets 2. However, Watanuki played 10 games more than Shimabukuro. The Japanese scored 19 winners (31% of the total points). On the other side, Sho managed to score 9 winners (41%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Watanuki | Shimabukuro |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 8 | 1 |
| Avg per match | 8 | 1 |
| 1st in | 24/47 | 12/20 |
| %1st in | 51% | 60% |
| 1st pts | 19/24 | 9/12 |
| %1st pts | 79% | 75% |
| 2nd pts | 17/23 | 4/8 |
| %2nd pts | 74% | 50% |
Watanuki recorded 8 aces . Shimabukuro bagged 1 ace . Watanuki won 79% points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 74% of the points. On the other side, Shimabukuro won 75% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 50% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Watanuki | Shimabukuro |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 4 | 2 |
| Converted | 4/10 | 2/3 |
| % Converted | 40% | 67% |
| Conceded | 0 | 0 |
| Saved | 0 | 0 |
| % Saved | 0% | 0% |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 |
The Japanese broke his opponent 4 times with a 40% conversion rate. Yousuke very solid his serve as he has never surrendered a single service game after saving 0 break points. Shimabukuro broke his opponent twice with a 67% conversion rate. The Japanese was rock solid on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 0 break points.
| Watanuki | |||
| R1 Chung |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 6-2 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 16 | 16 | |
| pts | 62-37 | 62-37 | |
| Total points | 99 | 99 | |
| Winners | 19 | 19 | |
| %Winners | 31% | 31% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 8 | 8 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 4 | |
| 1st in | 24/47 | 24/47 | |
| % 1st in | 51% | 51% | |
| 1st pts | 19/24 | 19/24 | |
| % 1st pts | 79% | 79% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/23 | 17/23 | |
| % 2nd pts | 74% | 74% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 4 | 4 | |
| Converted | 4/10 | 4/10 | |
| Converted % | 40% | 40% | |
| Conceded | 0 | 0 | |
| Saved | 0/0 | 0 | |
| Saved % | – | 0% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
| Shimabukuro | |||
| R1 Uchiyama |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 5-1 ret. | ||
| Tot Set | 1 | 1 | |
| Tot Games | 6 | 6 | |
| pts | 22-16 | 22-16 | |
| Total points | 38 | 38 | |
| Winners | 9 | 9 | |
| %Winners | 41% | 41% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 1 | 1 | |
| Double Faults | 2 | 2 | |
| 1st in | 12/20 | 12/20 | |
| % 1st in | 60% | 60% | |
| 1st pts | 9/12 | 9/12 | |
| % 1st pts | 75% | 75% | |
| 2nd pts | 4/8 | 4/8 | |
| % 2nd pts | 50% | 50% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 2 | 2 | |
| Converted | 2/3 | 2/3 | |
| Converted % | 67% | 67% | |
| Conceded | 0 | 0 | |
| Saved | 0/0 | 0 | |
| Saved % | – | 0% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
Head 2 Head
WWWWWLLLWL
LWWLWWWWWW Tennis Scores in Kobe Challenger
- Nino SerdarusicSerdarusic – Damir DzumhurDzumhur (4-6 6-1 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Frederico Ferreira SilvaFerreira Silva – Rinky HijikataHijikata (6-4 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
- John MillmanJohn – Shintaro ImaiShintaro (6-1 6-4) – See score progression
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Ramkumar RamanathanRamanathan – Jason JungJung (1-1) – H2H and prediction
- Christopher O ConnellO Connell – Beibit ZhukayevZhukayev (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Nino SerdarusicSerdarusic – John MillmanMillman (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Zdenek KolarKolar – Marc PolmansPolmans (1-0) – H2H and prediction
- Sho ShimabukuroShimabukuro – Yosuke WatanukiWatanuki (1-2) – H2H and prediction
- Shinji HazawaHazawa – Naoki NakagawaNakagawa (0-1) – H2H and prediction
