Naomi Osaka wins maiden tennis title as mother, first on clay at WTA 125 tournament in Saint-Malo
Japan tennis star Naomi Osaka has claimed her first title since taking a maternity break with victory at L'Open 35 De Saint Malo in France.The four-time Grand Slam champion won the WTA 125 event, also known as a Challenger, by defeating unseeded Kaja Juvan of Slovenia 6-1, 7-5 in the final on Sunday (4 May). The second seed did not face a fellow seeded player on the road to silverware.Osaka’s victory in France was her first Challenger title and her first of any kind on clay following her Madrid Open first-round exit to Lucia Bronzetti. She has seven singles crowns on the main WTA Tour including two Australian Opens and two US Opens. This was the 27-year-old’s first success since her most recent major, the 2021 Australian Open.The former world number one will rise to 48 in Monday's new WTA rankings, her highest position in three months. Osaka will be in the main draw of the next Grand Slam, the French Open, in just over two weeks.Osaka gave birth to her daughter in July 2023 and returned to the WTA Tour at the start of the 2024 season having been out of action since September 2022.The two-time Olympian was the final torchbearer at her home Games in Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021), returning for Paris 2024 where she fell in the first round to the now-retired Angelique Kerber.
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