Saint-Malo 2025: Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick

Match Details

Fixture: (2) Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko

Date: April 29, 2025

Tournament: L'Open 35 de Saint-Malo

Round: First Round (Round of 32)

Venue: Tennis Club JA Saint-Malo, Saint-Malo, France

Surface: Clay

Category: WTA 125

Prize Money: $115,000

Live Telecast: USA - Tennis Channel/TC Plus

Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko preview

Naomi Osaka at the Madrid Open 2025. (Photo: Getty)

Four-time Major champion Naomi Osaka will take on Petra Marcinko in the first round of the L'Open 35 de Saint-Malo 2025.

Osaka started the season on a strong note by reaching the final of the ASB Classic in Auckland. Unfortunately, an injury forced her to throw in the towel halfway through the match. A similar fate awaited her at the Australian Open, where she was forced to retire in the middle of her third-round match.

Osaka skipped the Middle East swing in order to recover. She lost to Camila Osorio in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells upon her return. She fared better in Miami, making the fourth round before losing to World No. 6 Jasmine Paolini.

The former World No. 1 kicked off her clay swing at the Madrid Open. She was up against Lucia Bronzetti in the first round and lost the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. She then made the decision to drop down to the WTA 125 level for the first time in a decade to get some more matches on clay.

Marcinko has only competed on the ITF circuit this year, with a couple of quarterfinal appearances being her best result so far. She recently made the last eight at the W75 tournament in Koper, her first tournament on clay this season. She went down to Julia Grabher in straight sets.

Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko head-to-head

This will be the first meeting between them, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0 for now.

Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko odds

Player	Moneyline	Handicap Bets	Total Games
Naomi Osaka	-525	+1.5 (-1600)	Over 19.5 (-135)
Petra Marcinko	+320	-1.5 (+575)	Under 19.5 (-110)

(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)

Naomi Osaka vs Petra Marcinko prediction

Petra Marcinko at the Billie Jean King Cup 2025. (Photo: Getty)

Osaka is well aware of her struggles on clay. Last week's loss to Bronzetti in Madrid was surely a wake up call for her. She did reach the fourth round of the Italian Open last year, a WTA 1000 tournament on clay. However, having started off her time on the red dirt with a loss, she's wise to get some reps by dropping down to the WTA 125 level.

Marcinko was a promising junior, reaching the World No. 1 ranking and winning the girls' singles title at the Australian Open 2022. However, she's yet to make her breakthrough at the WTA level. She has won seven titles on the ITF circuit, with four of them coming on clay.

Marcinko also has a 3-4 record against top 100 players on clay. Given that this is Osaka's worst surface, chances are that she could pull off an upset. However, even with her struggles on clay, the four-time Major champion should be able to fight past a player ranked outside the top 200.

Pick: Naomi Osaka to win in three sets.

About the author

Rohit is a journalist at Sportskeeda who specializes in covering tennis. Having been with the company for three years, he has proven himself as a formidable force in the field. With a Master's degree in law, Rohit brings his analytical and research skills to the forefront as a journalist. He stays on top of the game by using social media platforms and never misses a match for on-court insights. He values giving credit where it's due, keeping his reporting fair and accurate.

At the outset of his career, Rohit found his niche in writing previews and SEO pieces and it's this expertise that continues to define his role at Sportskeeda. He is particularly proud of one article that garnered an impressive 750k views and surpassed his "wildest dreams." Rohit is not particularly fond of (GOAT) debates and it is one of the reasons why he left the legal world behind. He prefers to view players in "tiers," where they're all esteemed to an extent. However, if pressed to name favorites, he would choose Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters' journey from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of tennis has been his greatest source of inspiration.

When he isn't busy making spot-on predictions about match outcomes, Rohit likes reading, particularly fantasy, sci-fi, and comics. As an X-Men fanatic, he's also passionate about board games and enjoys watching movies in his spare time. And don't be surprised if you catch him silently wishing to the tennis gods for the removal of ad scoring from doubles.

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