Taylor Townsend vs Renata Zarazua Prediction, Picks, Odds, H2H, Stats - 1/13/25

Taylor Townsend and Renata Zarazua contest a first-round match at the 2025 Australian Open and the American arrives as the favorite.

At odds ranging up to -200 for Townsend to advance to the second round, the American native is playing in her seventh Major in Australia and has yet to get out of the second round.

Renata Zarazua is competing in her second main draw at the Australian Open after being bounced in the first round last year.

EJ Garr’s prediction for Taylor Townsend vs. Renata Zarazua features odds at +150 which can be found below.

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Taylor Townsend vs Renata Zarazua WTA Australian Open Prediction: Buckle Up For A Battle

• Prediction: Match Total Over 2.5 Sets
• Best Odds: +150
• Bookmaker: Pinnacle
• Stakes: 3/10

Odds as of 7:00 am UK Time on January 13, 2025. Odds may now differ.

Strap in your seatbelts and hold on to anything you can find because Taylor Townsend and Renata Zarazua are going the distance to open the Australian Open.

Ranked only five sots apart (71 and 76 resp), Townsend may have the slight edge there but the American native has played one match in three months. This is Townsend’s 8th crack at a run in Australia, but the 28-year-old Chicago native has never seen the third round of the Major. 

With four first-round exits and the loss in qualifying from the 2017 campaign, Townsend hasn’t fared well at Melbourne Park.

The line setters want the public to think this will be an easy victory for the favored American but I do not see this as anything that will come easy for Townsend. 

Townsend has defeated Zarazua twice in two meetings and amazingly, one of those wins was on clay in 2019. Zarazua ended the 2024 campaign by winning her last clay tournament at Charleston although Townsend didn’t hoist any hardware a season ago.

We’re on hard courts and this surface will produce a fast track as long as the rain stays away from Melbourne Park. Wednesday has the potential for more inclement weather so let’s hope Mother Nature stays out of the way and we get an epic three-set affair between Townsend and Zarazua.

With a +150 attached to the action the value is there so let’s hope they produce a thriller.

TAYLOR TOWNSEND RECENT FORM

Taylor Townsend is playing in her first competitive match since the Billie Jean King Cup in November. After the US Open trip ended in August, Townsend only went 1 – 1 in Beijing in September before the final match at the BJK and a 24 – 20 record was the final number in 2024.  

RENATA ZARAZUA RECENT FORM

Renata Zarazua never stopped playing tennis last season and finished the 2024 campaign with a 21 – 2 record and won three tournament titles during that span.

Zarazua completed a 50 – 30 season in 2024 following a 57-win campaign in 2023.

TOWNSEND VS ZARAZUA H2H –  STAT OF THE MATCH

Taylor Townsend is 2 – 0 in two meetings with Renata Zarazua.

The first meeting was in 2019 at Bonita Springs, Florida, and Townsend won the match in three sets. In 2023, Townsend earned a straight-sets win over Zarazua at Templeton, both of which were WTA100 events.

The winner of this match will face Sijia Wei or Jasmine Paolini in the second round of the Australian Open.

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