Paula Badosa vs Xinyu Wang Preview & Prediction | 2025 Australian Open | First Round

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Former world number two Paula Badosa fought her way back from injury problems last year and had an excellent latter half of 2024. The Spaniard faces the unpredictable Xinyu Wang in the first round.

Start date/time: Sunday 12th January, 2025, UK – not before 2:00am / Saturday 11th January, US ET – not before 9:00pm / US PT – not before 6:00pm

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia

Surface: Outdoor hard

How to watch on TV: UK – Eurosport / US – ESPN+

How to watch online: UK – Eurosport website & discovery+ / US – ESPN+ platforms

Tickets: Visit this link for the latest Paula Badosa vs Xinyu Wang ticket information

Paula Badosa vs Xinyu Wang Prediction

Number two in the world back in 2022, an injury-affected 2023 saw Paula Badosa plummet down the WTA rankings but she did extraordinarily well to fight here way back up last year. As low as 140 in May, some fine performances in the latter half of the year – A WTA 500 title, two semi-finals at WTA 1000 level and a run to the last eight at the US Open – saw her rise to 12th.

The Spaniard generally prefers the clay but has reached at least the third round in her previous two Australian Open participations.

2024 brought about some excellent results for Xinyu Wang, too, who claimed a silver medal in the Mixed Doubles at the Paris Olympics, reached the last 16 at Wimbledon and also made the last four at the 1000-rated Wuhan Open.

However, since that Wuhan run, the Chinese star has noticeably dipped with no main draw victories in the four tournaments she has participated in.

With Wang’s confidence likely to be fairly low given her results over the past couple of months, Badosa can be backed with confidence. 

Paula Badosa vs Xinyu Wang Tip: Paula Badosa to win with -4.5 games handicap