At this week`s WTA 125 events, receiving a wild card entry in France proved highly successful for Naomi Osaka, while Dalma Galfi and Bianca Andreescu also achieved title wins in Spain.
Osaka Secures Saint Malo Crown
Former World No. 1 Osaka from Japan clinched the first WTA 125 title of her career on Sunday. She defeated Kaja Juvan of Slovenia with a score of 6-1, 7-5 to claim the L`Open 35 de Saint Malo trophy in Saint Malo, France.
Throughout her career, Osaka has been a formidable champion, with four Grand Slam titles and three other WTA Tour titles to her name. However, this marks her first singles title victory at any level since her triumph at the 2021 Australian Open Grand Slam.
Her success this week followed her acceptance of a wild card into the event, where she was the second seed. While she dropped one set against French players Diane Parry and Leolia Jeanjean, Osaka navigated the rest of the draw with relative ease.
Interestingly, this wasn`t Osaka`s debut in a WTA 125 final. She was the runner-up to Yaroslava Shvedova at the WTA 125 Hua Hin back in 2015, almost a decade ago.
Special recognition goes to Kaja Juvan, a former Top 100 player, who returned to the tour in January after a 12-month break and has already reached a WTA 125 final.
In the Saint Malo doubles final, the top seeds, Maia Lumsden and Makoto Ninomiya, emerged victorious. They beat the second-seeded pair, Oksana Kalashnikova and Angelica Moratelli, 7-5, 6-2 in Saturday`s match.
Galfi Captures Vic Title, Extends Winning Streak to 10
Hungary`s Dalma Galfi secured her second WTA 125 title, adding the Catalonia Open in Vic, Spain, to her recent win in Oeiras last month. On Saturday, Galfi delivered a dominant performance, defeating Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 in the final. This victory extends Galfi`s current winning streak to 10 matches.
Galfi had a thoroughly dominant week in Vic, not dropping more than four games in any single set throughout the tournament.
A former junior World No. 1 a decade ago, Galfi is arguably experiencing the strongest form of her professional career. Just three weeks prior, she was ranked No. 149, but following her win, she is projected to re-enter the Top 100 in the upcoming PIF WTA Rankings.
Another Grand Slam champion also found success by accepting a wild card this week. 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu teamed up with Aldila Sutjiadi to win the doubles title in Vic.
Andreescu and Sutjiadi defeated the team of Lulu Sun and fellow Grand Slam finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-4 in the Catalonia Open doubles final on Friday.
