Alex Bolt and Yosuke Watanuki will square off in the semifinal of the Matsuyama Challenger for the 3^rd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Saturday at 11:30 am on CENTER 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 Yosuke Watanuki who should win in 2 sets.

As per the initial odds, Yosuke Watanuki is the pick to win this match.
Yosuke Watanuki -> 1.31
Alex Bolt -> 3.2

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Prediction and head to head Alex Bolt vs. Yosuke Watanuki

This will be the 3^rd time that Alex Bolt and Yosuke Watanuki square off. The head to head is 2-0 for Watanuki (see full H2H stats), 2-0 on hard.

The last time that they played each other, Watanuki won 6-4 6-0 in the 1^st round in the Shanghai Challenger back in 2023.

Alex Bolt

Ranked no. 179, Alex reached the semifinal after beating Matej Dodig 6-2 3-0 ret., Chak Lam Coleman Wong 7-6(5) 6-2 and Terence Atmane 6-1 4-6 6-3.

In the quarter, Alex defeated Atmane (6-1 4-6 6-3). During the match, Bolt scored 87 points vs Atmane’s 71. The Australian was pretty aggressive to blast 34 winners.

Talking about the service games, Bolt made 4 aces and he committed only 4 double faults. Overall, Alex Bolt was very efficient on serve to win 71% (34/48) of his 1st serve and 57% (16/28) on the second serve. However, this didn’t prevent his to concede the serve twice. Alex broke Atmane 5 times after converting 63% of his break points (5/8).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The Australian has lost 1 set in this competition to conquer 55% of the points he played.

Bolt has good match record in the last 10 years having won 58% of his matches (269-192). 25-19 on hard in 2024. Talking about his performance on the same surface of this event, Bolt has an aggregate 175-127 win-loss record in the last years on hard.

The Australian’s best result of the season was getting to the final in the Burnie 1 Challenger,M25 Traralgon,M25 Mildura and M25 Swan Hill.

Alex has a composed 46-23 win-loss record in 2024, 25-19 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Previously in the Matsuyama Challenger

The Australian has never competed in this tournament before.

Yosuke Watanuki

Ranked no. 290, Watanuki got to the semifinal after defeating Yi Zhou 5-7 6-3 6-3, Hiroki Moriya 6-2 6-0 and Kokoro Isomura 6-0 7-5.

In the quarter, Watanuki had a good straight sets win against Isomura (6-0 7-5). During the match Watanuki scored 65 points vs Isomura’s 42. Watanuki was quite aggressive to blast 19 winners.

About the serving games, Watanuki struck 7 aces and he committed only 2 double faults. Yosuke Watanuki lost the serve twice and he saved 2 break points. Furthermore, Watanuki put 54% of his first serves in, winning 70% (19/27) of the points behind his 1st serve and 57% (13/23) on the 2nd serve. The Japanese broke Isomura 6 times after converting 60% of his break points (6/10).

Overall Performance in this tournament

Yousuke has conceded 1 set in the tournament to win 57% of the points he played.

The Japanese has a composed 9-9 win-loss record in 2024, 9-7 on hard (See FULL STATS).

H2H Performance in the tournament (main draw)

Matches, sets, games and points

Points	Bolt	Watanuki
Match played	3	3
Tot Set	8	7
Tot Games	58	62
Pts	203-155	223-165
Total Points	358	388
Winners	81	70
%Winners	40%	31%

Both Bolt and Watanuki played 3 matches. Both players lost a set in the event. Alex Bolt surrendered 1 set, while Yosuke Watanuki lost 1 set. Bolt has played 1 set more than Watanuki (8 vs 7). However, it’s interesting to notice that Bolt played 4 games less than Watanuki. Bolt scored 81 winners (40% of the total points). On the other side, Yousuke made 70 winners (31%).

Serve Performance

Serve	Bolt	Watanuki
Aces	15	20
Avg per match	5	6.7
1st in	112/178	89/177
%1st in	63%	50%
1st pts	81/112	70/89
%1st pts	72%	79%
2nd pts	38/66	51/88
%2nd pts	58%	58%

Bolt blasted 15 aces (5 per match). Watanuki fired 20 aces (6.7 per match). Bolt won 72% points behind his first serve. He pretty solid on his second serve to win 58% of the points. On the other side, Watanuki won 79% of the points behind his first serve. He had a solid display on his second serve to win 58% of the points.

How they played the important points

Breaks	Bolt	Watanuki
Won	12	15
Converted	12/21	15/26
% Converted	57%	58%
Conceded	17	6
Saved	14	2
% Saved	82%	33%
Times Broken	3	4

Alex broke his opponents 12 times with a 57% conversion rate. The Australian conceded his serve 3 times and he saved 82% of the break points that he conceded. The Japanese broke his opponents 15 times with a 58% conversion rate. The Japanese conceded his serve 4 times and he saved 33% of the break points that he conceded.

Bolt
	R1 Dodig	R2 Lam Coleman Wong	1/4 Atmane	Total
Score	6-2 3-0 ret.	7-65 6-2	6-1 4-6 6-3
Tot Set	2	2	3	7
Tot Games	11	21	26	58
pts	43-24	73-60	87-71	203-155
Total points	67	133	158	358
Winners	14	33	34	81
%Winners	33%	45%	39%	40%
SERVE
Aces	4	7	4	15
Double Faults	1	4	4	9
1st in	17/28	47/74	48/76	112/178
% 1st in	61%	64%	63%	63%
1st pts	14/17	33/47	34/48	81/112
% 1st pts	82%	70%	71%	72%
2nd pts	7/11	15/27	16/28	38/66
% 2nd pts	64%	56%	57%	58%
Breaks
Won	4	3	5	12
Converted	4/9	3/4	5/8	12/21
Converted %	44%	75%	63%	57%
Conceded	3	8	6	17
Saved	3/3	7/8	4/6	14
Saved %	100%	88%	67%	85%
Times Broken	0	1	2	3

Watanuki
	R1 Zhou	R2 Moriya	1/4 Isomura	Total
Score	5-7 6-3 6-3	6-2 6-0	6-0 7-5
Tot Set	3	2	2	7
Tot Games	30	14	18	62
pts	98-89	60-34	65-42	223-165
Total points	187	94	107	388
Winners	35	16	19	70
%Winners	36%	27%	29%	31%
SERVE
Aces	8	5	7	20
Double Faults	6	4	2	12
1st in	42/91	20/36	27/50	89/177
% 1st in	46%	56%	54%	50%
1st pts	35/42	16/20	19/27	70/89
% 1st pts	83%	80%	70%	79%
2nd pts	26/49	12/16	13/23	51/88
% 2nd pts	53%	75%	57%	58%
Breaks
Won	4	5	6	15
Converted	4/8	5/8	6/10	15/26
Converted %	50%	63%	60%	58%
Conceded	2	0	4	6
Saved	0/2	0/0	2/4	2
Saved %	0%	–	50%	17%
Times Broken	2	0	2	4

Tennis Scores in Matsuyama Challenger

• Nicolas Moreno De AlboranMoreno De Alboran – Federico CinaCina (6-3 6-4) – See score progression
• Yosuke WatanukiWatanuki – Kokoro IsomuraIsomura (6-0 7-5) – See score progression
• Alex BoltBolt – Terence AtmaneAtmane (6-1 4-6 6-3) – See score progression
• Alexander BlockxBlockx – Shintaro MochizukiMochizuki (6-4 7-6²) – See score progression
• Nicolas Moreno De Alboran/Jose StathamMoreno De Alboran/Jose Statham – Vasil Kirkov/Bart StevensKirkov/Bart Stevens (6-4 6-1) – See score progression
• Seita Watanabe/Takeru YuzukiWatanabe/Takeru Yuzuki – Sho Katayama/Kaichi UchidaKatayama/Kaichi Uchida (6-0 6-3) – See score progression

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Yosuke WatanukiWatanuki – Alex BoltBolt (2-0) – H2H and prediction
• Nicolas Moreno De AlboranMoreno De Alboran – (1-0) – H2H and prediction