Elise Mertens and Kimberly Birrell will clash against each other in the 2nd round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships for the 1st time in their career. They are scheduled to play on Thursday at 1:00 pm on COURT 1. 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 Elise Mertens who should win in 2 sets.
As per the initial odds, Elise Mertens is the pick to win this match.
Elise Mertens -> 1.165
Kimberly Birrell -> 5.15
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Prediction and head to head Elise Mertens vs. Kimberly Birrell
There is no head to head record between Elise Mertens and Kimberly Birrell since this will be the first time that they will play each other in the main tour.
Elise Mertens
27 - 24win/loss
34
12
LWLLWLWLWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 27-25 | 17-15 | 6-5 | 1-1 | 3-4 | 0-0 |
| 2023 | 30-22 | 24-16 | 5-4 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 |
| 2022 | 29-23 | 19-14 | 4-3 | 2-2 | 4-4 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 33-20 | 20-10 | 9-5 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 34-13 | 17-7 | 9-4 | 8-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 27, the Belgian got to the 2nd round after beating Mai Hontama 6-1 6-1.
In the 1st round, The Belgian had a good straight sets win against Hontama (6-1 6-1). During the match, Mertens scored 55 points vs Hontama’s 25. The Belgian was exceptionally aggressive to blast 19 winners.
Regarding the service games, Mertens scored 3 aces and she committed only 1 double fault. Elise Mertens was quite effective on serve to win 95% (19/20) of her 1st serve and 69% (9/13) on the second serve. This was the main reason for not conceding a single break during the match. Elise broke Hontama 5 times after converting 50% of her break points (5/10).
Mertens has a solid record in the last 10 years having won 61% of her matches (362-228). 17-14 on hard in 2024. In connection with her performance on the same surface of this tournament, Mertens has an aggregate 196-116 record in the last years on hard.
Mertens’s best result of the season was getting to the final in Hobart.
Mertens has an overall 27-24 win-loss record in 2024, 17-14 on hard (See FULL STATS).
Previously in Osaka
Kimberly Birrell
36 - 25win/loss
113
100
LLWLLWLWWW | Year | Total | Hard | Clay | I.hard | Grass | Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 41-30 | 22-19 | 1-1 | 1-6 | 12-4 | 5-0 |
| 2023 | 42-33 | 32-21 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 1-4 | 5-0 |
| 2022 | 41-25 | 38-20 | 3-2 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0-0 |
| 2021 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 2020 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Ranked no. 150, Kimberly got to the 2nd round after beating Sayaka Ishii 6-2 3-6 6-3, Jessika Ponchet 7-5 3-6 6-2 and Saisai Zheng 6-2 6-3.
In the 1st round, Birrell had a good straight sets win against Zheng (6-2 6-3). During the match Birrell scored 59 points vs Zheng’s 32. Birrell was quite aggressive to blast 20 winners.
Talking about serving, Birrell managed to score 4 aces and she committed only 1 double fault for the entire match. Overall, Kimberly Birrell was exceptionally efficient on serve to win 87% (20/23) of her 1st serve and 61% (11/18) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent her to concede the serve once. Birrell broke Zheng 5 times after converting 63% of her break points (5/8).
Her best result of the year was winning the title the W75 Fukuoka where she defeated Emina Bektas in the final 6-2 6-4.
Kimberly has an aggregate 36-25 win-loss record in 2024, 18-17 on hard (See FULL STATS).
H2H Performance in the tournament
Matches, sets, games and points
| Points | Mertens | Birrell |
|---|---|---|
| Match played | 1 | 3 |
| Tot Set | 2 | 8 |
| Tot Games | 14 | 72 |
| Pts | 55-25 | 244-201 |
| Total Points | 80 | 445 |
| Winners | 19 | 98 |
| %Winners | 35% | 40% |
Mertens played 1 match while Birrell competed in 3 matches. Birrell started her run from the qualifications while Mertens had a direct access to the main draw. At the moment, Kimberly Birrell dropped 2 sets while Elise Mertens hasn’t dropped a set so far. Mertens has played 6 set(s) less than Birrell (2 vs 8). Therefore, Mertens played 58 games less than Birrell. Elise scored 19 winners (35% of the total points). On the other side, Birrell fired 98 winners (40%).
Serve Performance
| Serve | Mertens | Birrell |
|---|---|---|
| Aces | 3 | 13 |
| Avg per match | 3 | 4.3 |
| 1st in | 20/33 | 132/206 |
| %1st in | 61% | 64% |
| 1st pts | 19/20 | 98/132 |
| %1st pts | 95% | 74% |
| 2nd pts | 9/13 | 41/74 |
| %2nd pts | 69% | 55% |
Mertens bagged 3 aces . Birrell recorded 13 aces (4.3 per match). Mertens won 95% points on her first serve. She quite strong on her second serve to win 69% of the points. On the other side, Birrell won 74% of the points on her first serve. She had a solid display on her second serve to win 55% of the points.
How they played the important points
| Breaks | Mertens | Birrell |
|---|---|---|
| Won | 5 | 13 |
| Converted | 5/10 | 13/28 |
| % Converted | 50% | 46% |
| Conceded | 0 | 13 |
| Saved | 0 | 8 |
| % Saved | 0% | 62% |
| Times Broken | 0 | 5 |
The Belgian broke her opponent 5 times with a 50% conversion rate. The Belgian extremely effective on her serve as she has never dropped a single service game after saving 0 break points. The Australian broke her opponents 13 times with a 46% conversion rate. Birrell conceded her serve 5 times and she saved 62% of the break points that she conceded.
| Mertens | |||
| R1 Hontama |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-1 6-1 | ||
| Tot Set | 2 | 2 | |
| Tot Games | 14 | 14 | |
| pts | 55-25 | 55-25 | |
| Total points | 80 | 80 | |
| Winners | 19 | 19 | |
| %Winners | 35% | 35% | |
| SERVE | |||
| Aces | 3 | 3 | |
| Double Faults | 1 | 1 | |
| 1st in | 20/33 | 20/33 | |
| % 1st in | 61% | 61% | |
| 1st pts | 19/20 | 19/20 | |
| % 1st pts | 95% | 95% | |
| 2nd pts | 9/13 | 9/13 | |
| % 2nd pts | 69% | 69% | |
| Breaks | |||
| Won | 5 | 5 | |
| Converted | 5/10 | 5/10 | |
| Converted % | 50% | 50% | |
| Conceded | 0 | 0 | |
| Saved | 0/0 | 0 | |
| Saved % | – | 0% | |
| Times Broken | 0 | 0 | |
| Birrell | |||||
| Q1 Ishii |
Q3 Ponchet |
R1 Zheng |
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 6-2 3-6 6-3 | 7-5 3-6 6-2 | 6-2 6-3 | ||
| Tot Set | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | |
| Tot Games | 26 | 29 | 17 | 72 | |
| pts | 95-81 | 90-88 | 59-32 | 244-201 | |
| Total points | 176 | 178 | 91 | 445 | |
| Winners | 36 | 42 | 20 | 98 | |
| %Winners | 38% | 47% | 34% | 40% | |
| SERVE | |||||
| Aces | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 | |
| Double Faults | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1st in | 51/77 | 58/88 | 23/41 | 132/206 | |
| % 1st in | 66% | 66% | 56% | 64% | |
| 1st pts | 36/51 | 42/58 | 20/23 | 98/132 | |
| % 1st pts | 71% | 72% | 87% | 74% | |
| 2nd pts | 17/26 | 13/30 | 11/18 | 41/74 | |
| % 2nd pts | 65% | 43% | 61% | 55% | |
| Breaks | |||||
| Won | 4 | 4 | 5 | 13 | |
| Converted | 4/13 | 4/7 | 5/8 | 13/28 | |
| Converted % | 31% | 57% | 63% | 46% | |
| Conceded | 6 | 4 | 3 | 13 | |
| Saved | 4/6 | 2/4 | 2/3 | 8 | |
| Saved % | 67% | 50% | 67% | 184% | |
| Times Broken | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
Head 2 Head
LWLLWLWLWW
LLWLLWLWWW Tennis Scores in Osaka
- Suzan LamensLamens – Lucia BronzettiBronzetti (6-3 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Eva LysLys – Mccartney KesslerKessler (7-67 3-6 7-5) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Aoi ItoIto – Elisabetta CocciarettoCocciaretto (6-4 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Clara TausonTauson – Harriet DartDart (6-3 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Marco BrugnerottoBrugnerotto – Rhett PurcellPurcell (0-6 6-1 7-64) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Cheong-Eui KimKim – Ahmed Deedat Abdul RazakDeedat Abdul Razak (6-4 6-1) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Connor FarrenFarren – Kazuma KawachiKawachi (6-3 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Michail PervolarakisPervolarakis – Roy HobbsHobbs (6-2 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Quentin RobertRobert – Lance-Pierre Du ToitDu Toit (6-3 6-1) – Stats, scores, rankings
- Siddharth VishwakarmaVishwakarma – Maciej SmolaSmola (7-63 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
Upcoming matches in the draw
- Elise MertensMertens – Kimberly BirrellBirrell (0-0) – H2H and prediction
- Ana BogdanBogdan – Marie BouzkovaBouzkova (2-0) – H2H and prediction
- Diane ParryParry – Greetje MinnenMinnen (0-1) – H2H and prediction
- Eva LysLys – (0-0) – H2H and prediction
