Christopher O Connell and Yosuke Watanuki will face off in the semifinal of the Kobe Challenger for the 3rd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 1:30 pm on CENTRE COURT. In the following lines you can find the head to head analysis and prediction.
Prediction, odds and live streaming
The pick for Tennis Tonic is Christopher O Connell who should win in 3 sets.
As per the initial odds, Christopher O Connell is the pick to win this match.
Christopher O Connell -> 1.8
Yosuke Watanuki -> 1.97
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Prediction and head to head Christopher O Connell vs. Yosuke Watanuki
This will be the 3rd time that Christopher O Connell and Yosuke Watanuki square off. The head to head is 2-0 for O Connell (see full H2H stats), but they have never played each other on indoor hard courts.
The last time that they fought against each other, O Connell won 6-1 6-7(5) 6-3 in the final in the Yokohama Challenger back in November 2022.
Christopher O Connell
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7-5 | 7-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2024 | 28-26 | 23-16 | 2-4 | 3-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 38-34 | 19-18 | 11-9 | 4-3 | 4-4 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 50-25 | 30-16 | 12-5 | 3-1 | 5-3 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 22-16 | 14-9 | 3-3 | 1-1 | 4-3 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 84 (career-high), the Australian got to the semifinal after beating Colin Sinclair 6-77 7-610 7-63, Beibit Zhukayev 6-2 6-75 6-1 and Marc Polmans 7-5 7-63.
In the quarter, Christopher had a good straight sets win against Polmans (7-5 7-63). During the match, O Connell scored 84 points vs Polmans’s 75. Christopher was quite aggressive to blast 37 winners.
Talking about the service games, O Connell made 9 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Christopher O Connell lost the serve once and he saved 4 break points. Furthermore, O Connell put 57% of his first serves in, winning 82% (37/45) of the points behind his 1st serve and 47% (16/34) on the 2nd serve. O Connell broke Polmans twice after converting 33% of his break points (2/6).
Overall Performance in this tournament
O Connell has surrendered 2 set in this event to win 53% of the points he played.
O Connell has a solid record in the last 10 years having won 64% of his matches (320-177). 3-0 on indoor hard courts in 2022. In connection with his performance on the same surface of this competition, O Connell has a compiled 15-8 win-loss record in the last years on indoor hard courts.
The Australian’s best result of the season was getting to the final in the Split Challenger,the Porto Challenger and the Yokohama Challenger.
The Australian has an overall 50-24 win-loss record in 2022, 3-0 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
Previously in the Kobe Challenger
Christopher has never competed in this tournament before.
Yosuke Watanuki
| Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4-4 | 3-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 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 semifinal after defeating Yunseong Chung 6-2 6-2, Sho Shimabukuro 6-4 6-2 and Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5 6-1.
In the quarter, The Japanese had a good straight sets win against Ramanathan (7-5 6-1). During the match Watanuki scored 66 points vs Ramanathan’s 43. Watanuki was quite aggressive to blast 21 winners.
Talking about serving, Watanuki blasted 5 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Yosuke Watanuki was quite efficient on serve to win 81% (21/26) of his 1st serve and 77% (20/26) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. The Japanese broke Ramanathan 3 times after converting 43% of his break points (3/7).
Overall Performance in this tournament
Watanuki hasn’t dropped yet a set in the tournament to win 60% of the points he played.
Yousuke’s best result of the current year was getting to the final in the Yokohama Challenger.
Watanuki has a compiled 33-22 win-loss record in 2022, 13-7 on indoor hard courts (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | O Connell | Watanuki |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 3 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 8 | 6 |
| Tot Games | 92 | 53 |
| Pts | 307-277 | 201-132 |
| Total Points | 584 | 333 |
| Winners | 142 | 68 |
| %Winners | 46% | 34% |
Both O Connell and Watanuki played 3 matches. At the moment, Christopher O Connell surrendered 2 sets while Yosuke Watanuki hasn’t conceded a set so far. O Connell has played 2 sets more than Watanuki (8 vs 6). Therefore, O Connell played 39 games more than Watanuki. Christopher scored 142 winners (46% of the total points). On the other side, The Japanese bagged 68 winners (34%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | O Connell | Watanuki |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 32 | 20 |
| Avg per match | 10.7 | 6.7 |
| 1st in | 177/293 | 83/156 |
| %1st in | 60% | 53% |
| 1st pts | 142/177 | 68/83 |
| %1st pts | 80% | 82% |
| 2nd pts | 63/116 | 51/73 |
| %2nd pts | 54% | 70% |
O Connell struck 32 aces (10.7 per match). Watanuki made 20 aces (6.7 per match). O Connell won 80% points on his first serve. He pretty solid on his second serve to win 54% of the points. On the other side, Watanuki won 82% of the points on his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 70% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | O Connell | Watanuki |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 7 | 10 |
| Converted | 7/19 | 10/25 |
| % Converted | 37% | 40% |
| Conceded | 10 | 2 |
| Saved | 8 | 2 |
| % Saved | 80% | 100% |
| Times Broken | 2 | 0 |
Christopher broke his opponents 7 times with a 37% conversion rate. The Australian dropped his serve twice and he saved 80% of the break points that he conceded. The Japanese broke his opponents 10 times with a 40% conversion rate. Watanuki was rock solid on his serve as he has never conceded a single service game after saving 2 break points.
| O Connell | |||||
| R1 Sinclair |
R2 Zhukayev |
1/4 Polmans |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-77 7-610 7-63 | 6-2 6-75 6-1 | 7-5 7-63 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| Tot Games | 39 | 28 | 25 | 92 | |
| pts | 129-129 | 94-73 | 84-75 | 307-277 | |
| Total points | 258 | 167 | 159 | 584 | |
| Winners | 57 | 48 | 37 | 142 | |
| %Winners | 44% | 51% | 44% | 46% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 12 | 11 | 9 | 32 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | |
| 1st in | 77/133 | 55/81 | 45/79 | 177/293 | |
| % 1st in | 58% | 68% | 57% | 60% | |
| 1st pts | 57/77 | 48/55 | 37/45 | 142/177 | |
| % 1st pts | 74% | 87% | 82% | 80% | |
| 2nd pts | 34/56 | 13/26 | 16/34 | 63/116 | |
| % 2nd pts | 61% | 50% | 47% | 54% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | |
| Converted | 1/4 | 4/9 | 2/6 | 7/19 | |
| Converted % | 25% | 44% | 33% | 37% | |
| Conceded | 5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | |
| Saved | 4/5 | 0/0 | 4/5 | 8 | |
| Saved % | 80% | – | 80% | 53% | |
| Times Broken | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Watanuki | |||||
| R1 Chung |
R2 Shimabukuro |
1/4 Ramanathan |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 6-2 | 6-4 6-2 | 7-5 6-1 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| Tot Games | 16 | 18 | 19 | 53 | |
| pts | 62-37 | 73-52 | 66-43 | 201-132 | |
| Total points | 99 | 125 | 109 | 333 | |
| Winners | 19 | 28 | 21 | 68 | |
| %Winners | 31% | 38% | 32% | 34% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 8 | 7 | 5 | 20 | |
| Double Faults | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| 1st in | 24/47 | 33/57 | 26/52 | 83/156 | |
| % 1st in | 51% | 58% | 50% | 53% | |
| 1st pts | 19/24 | 28/33 | 21/26 | 68/83 | |
| % 1st pts | 79% | 85% | 81% | 82% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/23 | 14/24 | 20/26 | 51/73 | |
| % 2nd pts | 74% | 58% | 77% | 70% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | |
| Converted | 4/10 | 3/8 | 3/7 | 10/25 | |
| Converted % | 40% | 38% | 43% | 40% | |
| Conceded | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Saved | 0/0 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 2 | |
| Saved % | – | 100% | 100% | 67% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Head 2 Head
LWWWLWWWLL
LLLWLWWW Tennis Scores in Kobe Challenger
- Andrew Harris/John-Patrick SmithHarris/John-Patrick Smith – Marc Polmans/Jason TaylorPolmans/Jason Taylor (6-2 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Shinji Hazawa/Yuta ShimizuHazawa/Yuta Shimizu – Toshihide Matsui/Kaito UesugiMatsui/Kaito Uesugi (7-62 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Frederico Ferreira SilvaFerreira Silva – Nino SerdarusicSerdarusic (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Christopher O ConnellO Connell – Yosuke WatanukiWatanuki (2-0) – H2H and prediction
