Yasutaka Uchiyama - Seong-chan Hong predictions and free betting tips [22/11/2023]

Let's move forward to predicting matches of the 1/8 finals of the Yokohama Challenger. Let's kick off with the Asian head-to-head clash between two tennis athletes from the third hundred of the ATP world ranking. Yasutaka Uchiyama will go hit-to-hit against Soong Chang Heon.

Yasutaka Uchiyama

One could already consider Uchiyama as a veteran of tennis in Japan who's reached moderate heights. The challenger series has indeed become the limit of his abilities.

So far in the current season, Yasutaka has not claimed any trophies as his readiness has always fluctuated. Until now, it is difficult to understand when the Japanese player arrives in good form at the tournament and when he can blow it in the very first match. As for local achievements of this year, I would highlight the semi-final at the Seoul Challenger, where we could witness Uchiyama's top-level games in the currently ongoing season. That's pretty much it. Although he reached the quarterfinals in the Busan follow up to the mini-success in the South Korean capital, he met a more savvy opponent there - Max Purcell.

Uchiyama arrived at Yokohama following a series of misfortunes where the maximum that Yasutaka had achieved for the last 4-plus months, starting from the quarterfinal at Bloomfield, was a few second-rounds at the Challengers. This clearly indicates a gaming crisis for Uchiyama. In this ongoing Challenger in one of the largest cities in Japan, Uchiyama already pocketed two wins in the qualification rounds, one of them was a warm-up match, and the second one against the Korean Yun-Seong Chun was a strenuous match with two tie-breaks. He also won a main draw match against a fellow countryman, whose ranking position is surprising- 1760th. For some reason, Masamiti Imamura received a "wild card" while Uchiyama had to go through qualifications.

The next opponent for Yasutaka will be the younger Korean, Soong Chang Heon. In principle, the guys are equal in terms of skill level, but Uchiyama attacks a bit more intelligently if his technique is up and running. Heon, on the other hand, can be protective too or be as good as his opponent in "long draws" — the Korean is fast and does almost everything speed-based.

Soong Chang Heon

Heon dropped out of the Futuresc, and rightfully so, as he self-realised there, whereas Challengers are a novel material for the South Korean tennis player.

This year Soong Chang tried even to venture into "main" competitions a few times, but he didn't make it past the qualifications. Really, the Challengers seem to be quite a roadblock for him too-his maximum in the current season were semi-finals in Nonthaburi, Rome, and Tallahassee. Additionally, the lad put on a good display at the Asian Games where he again fell short of the finals, succumbing to fellow countryman Yasuke Watanuki.

In Yokohama, the Japanese player got a start from the main draw, outscoring Yurii Rodionov in the 1/16 finals. Both guys served inconsistently but Heon won both sets on tie-breaks, during the second of which he recovered from 1:5. Later, the Austrian had four set points which Soong Chang saved and made use of his match point.

The match with Uchiyama won't be any easier than the previous one, but stylistically it feels more comfortable because with the Japanese one can accelerate combinations and move the ball in different ways, as he pleases. Something Rodionov, who's in a constant hunt for his main attacking cross in every game, didn't allow to happen.

Head-to-head

In 2018, Soong Chang Heon beat Yasutaka Uchiyama at the Seoul Challenger without missing out on the third set. However, the Japanese managed to take revenge at last year's tournament in Nonthaburi, winning with a score of 2:0 in parties in the match.

Predictions for the match: Yasutaka Uchiyama - Soong Chang Heon

I'm interested in a bet with the total over 22.5 games. The tennis players are likely to play out three sets, which isn't surprising if you look at the line of odds offered to us by bookmakers, where there's no match favourite.