Gauff beat Uchijima at Indian Wells earlier this year.
World No. 3 Coco Gauff will face Moyuka Uchijima of Japan in the 2025 Wuhan Open second round on Wednesday. The American is defending her semifinalist points from last year, and needs a strong start to give her a confidence boost. Meanwhile, Uchijima has grown from strength to strength this week – she came through qualifying with wins over the likes of Eala and Wang. Can Gauff prevent any early hiccups in China? BetMGM will help us in giving you all the answers you need today.
Despite winning three hard court titles in 2024, Coco Gauff is yet to cross the finish line in the ongoing campaign. Her solitary success came at Roland Garros 2025, where she famously outlasted Aryna Sabalenka to win her second Grand Slam championship. The 21-year-old leads a strong contingent of female American tennis players, and has a win-loss record of 271-113 throughout her career. Gauff also finished as the runner-up in Madrid and Rome, and recently reached the semifinal in Beijing. As of her opener in Wuhan, the third seed has a success rate of 75% this year.
After attaining her maiden tour-level win of 2025 at the Australian Open, Moyuka Uchijima could not make an impact until the clay court swing. In the month of April, the Japanese sensation made two phenomenal quarterfinal runs in Rouen and Madrid – defeating big names like Jessica Pegula, Lois Boisson, Ons Jabeur and Ekaterina Alexandrova during this period. Since then however, Uchijima’s only main draw win has come in the Round of 128 at the US Open. This has left her with more losses than wins in 2025, and a sub-standard ranking of No. 91 in the world.
Coco Gauff leads the head-to-head against Moyuka Uchijima by 1-0.
Gauff and Uchijima met for the first time at the 2025 Indian Wells competition. Although it was a closely contested duel, the American prevailed in three sets. The Round of 32 match-up in Wuhan will be their second meeting on hard courts.
| Event | Round | Winner | Score |
| 2025 Indian Wells | Round of 64 | Coco Gauff | 6-4 3-6 7-6(4) |
| Coco Gauff | Category | Moyuka Uchijima |
| 3 | Current Ranking | 91 |
| 271-113 | Career W-L Record | 256-178 |
| 42-14 | YTD W-L Record | 24-27 |
| 10 | Career Titles | 0 |
| 1 | YTD Titles | 0 |
| 2 | Grand Slams | 0 |
While Uchijima’s current form has been sub-par at best, the 24-year-old has displayed a high level of tennis this week. But against Gauff who can deliver immaculate top spin and depth on her groundstrokes, playing it safe will not be enough. The American has superior court coverage and accuracy on her groundstrokes in comparison to Uchijima. The Japanese starlet will have to attack the vulnerable Gauff forehand and take pace out of the game to potentially cause an upset. However, we don’t think it will happen on this occasion.
Prediction: Coco Gauff in straight sets.
Gauff (1/10) is dominating the odds market over Uchijima (6/1) ahead of their Wuhan Open 2025 Round of 32 encounter. According to the implied probability on the money line, the American has an 88% chance of advancing to the pre-quarterfinal stage. Here are the odds (as per BetMGM):
(According to BetMGM: BetMGM offers exclusive promo codes, bonus deals and accurate odds for users upon signing up. Use BetMGM to ace your betting game in all sports!)
(Image Credits: Susan Mullane, Imagn Images)
