WTA125 Saint-Malo: Kaja Juvan vs Naomi Osaka final analysis
Osaka ended title drought(s) with healthy dose of second shot magic and a continued attack on Juvan's forehand
Naomi Osaka’s decision to take a wild card at WTA 125 Saint-Malo and play her first non-Tour level event in nearly 10 years paid off big time as she got plenty of reps on the red dirt to prepare for Rome and Roland Garros, grabbed a handful of match wins to boost her confidence and ended a 4-year title drought dating back to the 2021 Australian Open.
It was a very profitable week in the Northwest of France that Osaka (WTA #55, seed 2) also parlayed into her first career title on clay, following a 6-1, 7-5 win over Kaja Juvan (WTA #515) under difficult, windy conditions.
Juvan entered the Saint-Malo championship match with her own title droughts to conquer. She had last won a singles tournament in April 2019 and was still hunting a maiden career title above ITF W25 level.
While the 24-year old Slovenian’s chase will have to continue, there were plenty of positives to take. After all, this was her first final since a 2022 title decider you may remember: at WTA 250 Strasbourg, Juvan lost to Angelique Kerber in 3 nail-biting tie-break sets that lasted 3h16’, the longest Tour final of that season.
After that epic battle, Juvan needed 3 long years to reach another final because her heart was soon shattered by her father’s passing and she eventually stepped away from the game to heal physically and emotionally — a subject that is very dear to Osaka.
Hopefully, this week’s run to the Saint-Malo final is a great indicator Juvan’s body and soul have healed as much as possible and she is well launched on the comeback trail.
Match analysis
Before discussing the match, here is a small example of the unpleasant conditions both finalists had to deal with.
📺 source: WTA Unlocked
Despite the challenges, Osaka managed to convert her ultra-aggressive game into 43 winning shots — 16 winners plus 27 shots that extracted forced errors — to go along with 27 unforced errors. Given the context, those were great numbers!
Osaka amassed her final 22-point winning margin by hitting twice more return/rally winners (15 to 7) and thrice more forcing shots during rallies (21 to 7).
Ultimately, her title-clinching exhibition was characterized by 2 major traits:
Prolific performance on her second shot
Continued attack on Juvan’s forehand
1. Prolific performance on her second shot
Breakdown of points won by rally length showed Osaka had the edge in all 3 intervals, with the widest gap being provided by points decided within the first 4 shots.
The 27-year old Japanese won 46 short rallies against 32 by Juvan, for a 14-point difference.
A deeper look revealed that Osaka’s superiority was almost entirely created by a healthy dose of second shot magic.