Ann Li and Varvara Gracheva will fight against each other in the 1^st round of the Japan Open for the 3^rd time in their career. They are scheduled to compete on Tuesday at 11:30 am on COURT 1. In this post, we analyze their head to head performance and prediction.

Prediction, odds and live streaming

The pick for Tennis Tonic is Ann Li who should win in 3 sets.

As per the initial odds, Ann Li is the pick to win this match.
Ann Li -> 1.51
Varvara Gracheva -> 2.55

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Prediction and head to head Ann Li vs. Varvara Gracheva

This will be the 3^rd time that Ann Li and Varvara Gracheva clash against each other. The head to head is 2-0 for Li (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on hard.

The last time that they played each other, Li won 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3 in the 1^st round in the Midland back in 2022.

Ann Li

Ranked no. 42 (career-high), the American will start her run in Osaka after she played her last match in Wuhan where she lost 7-6(5) 6-2 to Alexandrova in the 2^nd round on the 8^th of October.

Ann has a composed 27-23 win-loss record in 2025, 14-13 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Ann’s best result of the current year was reaching the final in Singapore and Cleveland.

Talking about her overall career, The American has an overall 258-177 record. She has a positive 144-99 record on hard.

Previously in Osaka

Ann has never competed in this tournament before.

Varvara Gracheva

Ranked no. 83, Varvara reached the 1^st round after defeating Himeno Sakatsume 6-3 7-5 and Elena Gabriela Ruse 7-6(2) 6-2.

In the qualifications, The French player had a good straight sets win against Gabriela Ruse (7-6² 6-2). During the match Gracheva scored 70 points vs Gabriela Ruse’s 52. Gracheva was pretty aggressive to blast 18 winners.

Talking about serving, Gracheva struck 2 aces and she committed only 3 double faults. Varvara Gracheva lost the serve 3 times and she saved 1 break points. Furthermore, Gracheva put 57% of her first serves in, winning 56% (18/32) of the points behind her 1st serve and 75% (18/24) on the 2nd serve. The French player broke Gabriela Ruse 5 times after converting 83% of her break points (5/6).

Overall Performance in this tournament

The French player started her run at this tournament from the qualifications. In the main draw, she hasn’t lost yet a set in this event to win 55% of the points she played.

Gracheva’s best result of the year was reaching the semifinal in the Paris and Eastbourne.

Varvara has an aggregate 31-26 win-loss record in 2025, 17-12 on hard (See FULL STATS).

Tennis Scores in Osaka

• Sorana CirsteaCirstea – Moyuka UchijimaUchijima (2-6 6-4 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Suzan LamensLamens – Emiliana ArangoArango (6-1 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Momoko Kobori/Ayano ShimizuKobori/Ayano Shimizu – Shuko Aoyama/Cristina BucsaAoyama/Cristina Bucsa (7-5 3-6 10-5) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Katie BoulterBoulter – Linda NoskovaNoskova (7-6³ 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Naomi OsakaOsaka – Wakana SonobeSonobe (6-0 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Ashlyn KruegerKrueger – Maria SakkariSakkari (2-6 6-3 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Olga DanilovicDanilovic – Nao HibinoHibino (6-4 1-6 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Simone Bolelli/Guillermo DuranBolelli/Guillermo Duran – Ariel Behar/Gonzalo EscobarBehar/Gonzalo Escobar (6-4 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Tobias KamkeKamke – Niklas GuttauGuttau (7-5 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Javier Barranco CosanoBarranco Cosano – Maximilian MartererMarterer (w/o) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Gonzalo EscobarEscobar – Joao DominguesDomingues (6-1 6-3) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Yannick HanfmannHanfmann – Julian LenzLenz (7-5 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Geoffrey BlancaneauxBlancaneaux – Daniel MasurMasur (6-4 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Botic Van De ZandschulpVan De Zandschulp – Renzo OlivoOlivo (6-1 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Mats MoraingMoraing – Nicola KuhnKuhn (6-3 2-6 7-5) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Johannes HaerteisHaerteis – Cedrik-Marcel StebeStebe (3-6 7-5 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Steven DiezDiez – Alexey VatutinVatutin (6-4 3-6 6-2) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Tallon GriekspoorGriekspoor – Alexandre MullerMuller (7-6³ 7-6³) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Carlos TabernerTaberner – Peter HellerHeller (7-6⁴ 6-1) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Daniel AltmaierAltmaier – Karim-Mohamed MaamounMaamoun (6-4 7-6⁴) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Attila BalazsBalazs – Bernabe Zapata MirallesZapata Miralles (6-1 6-1) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Jozef KovalikKovalik – Benjamin HassanHassan (6-4 6-7⁵ 6-4) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Pedro CachinCachin – Tim Van RijthovenVan Rijthoven (7-5 6-1) – Stats, scores, rankings
• Lucas MiedlerMiedler – Thiemo de Bakkerde Bakker (6-4 7-6²) – Stats, scores, rankings

Upcoming matches in the draw

• Jaqueline CristianCristian – Elisabetta CocciarettoCocciaretto (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Katie VolynetsVolynets – Jessica Bouzas ManeiroBouzas Maneiro (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Elise MertensMertens – Cristina BucsaBucsa (1-2) – H2H and prediction
• Ann LiLi – Varvara GrachevaGracheva (2-0) – H2H and prediction
• Joanna GarlandGarland – Rebecca SramkovaSramkova (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Dalma GalfiGalfi – Alycia ParksParks (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Hailey BaptisteBaptiste – Leylah Annie FernandezAnnie Fernandez (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Marie BouzkovaBouzkova – Ena ShibaharaShibahara (0-0) – H2H and prediction
• Viktorija GolubicGolubic – Bianca Vanessa AndreescuVanessa Andreescu (1-1) – H2H and prediction
• Naomi OsakaOsaka – Suzan LamensLamens (1-0) – H2H and prediction
• Sorana CirsteaCirstea – Katie BoulterBoulter (0-0) – H2H and prediction