Naomi Osaka won her first WTA title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Only once previously has she even made it past the quarterfinals of a WTA event, 18 months ago at the Tokyo Pan Pacific. She beat fellow twenty-year-old rising star Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2.

Osaka reached the finals with wins over Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Maria Sharapova. Although she played a half hour more on her way to the final with 8:38hrs compared to Kasatkina’s 8:05 hours, she was fresher on court. Both played their semifinals Friday night, but Osaka’s match against Simona Halep only lasted 1:03 hours, whereas Kasatkina took 2:48 hours to defeat Venus Williams.

In the final match Sunday, Osaka hit big, clean shots. As is her style, she did play many high-risk shots, inflating both her number of unforced errors and winners accordingly, but still playing more conservatively than in earlier matches. She dialed it back by her standards, explaining that, “we were playing some long points. And I wasn't really trying to hit hard today, because I felt like it would be better for her to take my pace. So, I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do, and I was just going to sit back and, like, see what she does. I feel like I wasn't that aggressive today. I was just more consistent.” Her concentration has also greatly improved in recent years, and her outlook on the matter is a lesson for all tennis players: “ there are certain points you miss and you want to get angry. You could either lose to the anger or you can just move on. I feel like it's sort of a process that people need to go through to understand it.”

In the first set, both players posted up well behind the baseline as they tried to feel their way into the match. Never having played each other, they took a couple breaks in the beginning, getting to know each other’s’ game and settling into the atmosphere of their first Premier Mandatory final. Osaka later explained: “It was hard for me to get my nerves in check in the first game, especially since – I don't know why I decided to serve first. But yeah, I had to hold immediately.” Kasatkina broke that first game, however, and Osaka promptly broke back for 1-1. After a series of holds, Osaka broke again for 5-3.

In the second set, Osaka started with a break and a hold, before breaking again at 5-1. Kasatkina was able to stave off defeat with one more hold, before Osaka finished the match on her serve. Kasatkina demonstrated tremendous shot selection and a good tactical approach, but the wear from the long semifinal was beginning to take its toll, and she missed shots she had not had any trouble with earlier in the tournament, most notably her slice drop shot that sent Venus Williams running a few times.

Kasatkina did manage an impressive 70% first serve percentage, compared to Osaka’s 55%. The big difference was in the first serve points one, with Osaka winning 79% of those points, compared to Kasatkina’s 50%. Osaka won 50% of first return points, whereas Kasatkina only won 21%.

Kasatkina attributed much of her trouble to nerves: “during the match, she was able to manage her nerves and stuff, and I was still a little bit tight during the match. So, it is what it is.” While the loss was, without doubt, a terrible disappointment, Kasatkina showed incredible grace in defeat, unequivocally congratulating her opponent: “Basically she was much better today than me, so she really deserved to win.”