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Both players are still searching for good form

While the Belgian has played one indoor match, Watson has returned to Europe after an unsuccessful Asian tour

The British no. 2 has had a horrible season. Suffering one defeat after another, and a series of blows to her self-confidence, she can hardly hope for anything better in the near future. Her injury has definitely played a big part here. She sustained a gland injury at the start of the season, which took away most of her strength, so she could hardly keep the ball in the game. And the opponents were quick to thrive on this. The drop in her game started showing in February, when after the quarterfinal berth in Memphis she has only managed to win five of her last 20 matches, dropping out of ten tournaments already in the first round. 

Last week Watson played in Osaka, where last year she became the first British player to win a WTA title. She wasn't that lucky this year, stumbling over the first hurdle thanks to the young Puerto Rican  Puig, who's been playing brilliantly this year. Despite her good play on return, she struggled to keep her own serve, which she lost five time. No wonder given that she faced 14 break points.

Puig was able to take advantage of this, outlasting the British player and stopping her on the way to title defense. With the points she lost in Osaka, Watson currently sits in the 133th place. If she wishes to stop a further plunge, she'll have to make some changes to her game. She hired a new coach, who should bring in the necessary motivation and confidence in order for her to start getting some results. 

Wickmayer can't boast about her tennis either. She will probably finish the season with a negative win-loss record for the first time since 2004. She skipped the Asian tour, which was probably a good move considering she wouldn't have had many chances to achieve something there. So, she had a break after the US Open to work on her fitness, which will have to be at a high level if she hopes to get a good result:

- I train three hours each day. I've lost self-confidence and stopped running after the balls - the Belgian said.

But this is not what's been affecting her results. The main culprits for the drop in her tennis have been the poor service game, which used to be her advantage, and too many errors in the play. Last week she played in Linz on a surface similar to this, and lost to Ivanovic in the first round. Even though the final score suggested differently, this wasn't an easy win for the Serb, especially in the second set:

- The scoreline suggests it was easy, but it was far from easy. She made me fight for every point - Ivanovic stated in the post-match interview.

They have met twice so far and the Belgian came on top both times, plus she appeared in the semis here two years ago. Her third victory isn't far away, but she'll have to put on a high-level performance in order to reach it, otherwise she'll be facing a lot of problems.

I believe Wickmayer is more of a favorite in this match than the odds show. Even though she is not currently in her best shape, she shouldn't be facing problems against Watson who can hardly play a whole match at a high level. The British player is playing poorly and cannot boost her self-confidence. A change of coach should definitely be of use here but I think that she will need more time since she is in a significant result and play crisis. Wickmayer lost in the first round of Linz last week, but she lost to Ivanovic who later took the title and showed very good play at times. That level of play should be enough for the British who is no where near the quality of the Serbian. The Belgian also has a semifinal here and Watson never got through the qualification phase so things are crystal clear here.