Mouratoglou reflects on Osaka's title in Saint-Malo: "She played at a top 5 level, without a doubt"

Osaka claimed her first trophy in a clay-court tournament by defeating Kaja Juvan (6-1, 7-5) in the Saint-Malo final. A four-time Grand Slam winner, the Japanese player is not a big fan of this surface and has never made it past the Round of 16 at Roland-Garros, notably.

Mouratoglou, the coach of the 27-year-old player, reflected on this victory:

"A trophy is a trophy. And it was difficult, for many reasons. First, because Naomi entered the tournament with the memory of a first-round loss in Madrid, which is always tough in terms of confidence. Secondly, because historically, clay has never been a surface on which she has played well. And finally, thirdly, because in some ways, it was a WTA 125, so she couldn't lose.

Therefore, if you put all these things together, the pressure was very high for her. I think the clay-court training block we did at the Mouratoglou Academy after coming back from Miami was great. She worked very hard. She felt ready to play there, but she lacked matches on this surface. And now, she has had them. It's beautiful.

We expect her to finally feel good on this surface, to feel confident and to play freely. She is convinced that she can play well. This week, there were moments during the matches when she played at a top 5 level, without a doubt."