Japan is on the verge of saluting a new tennis star. Seventeen-year-old Sara Saito, might be one of the most exciting prospects the WTA has right now. If you haven’t heard of her (which is quite possible, given most of her matches have been on the ITF tour), you soon will.
We saw the adoration that players like Kei Nishikori, and Naomi Osaka garnered in Japan, but are we about to see something even bigger in the next decade?
Embed from Getty ImagesStarting on the ITF Junior tour back in 2019, just days after her 13th birthday, it took a couple of years before she competed consistently on the circuit. Saito ascended all the way to number 2 in the world, off the back of 8 titles, plus a US Open, and Australian Open quarter-final appearance. Her last junior tournament was that Australian Open this year, going under to promising Australian, Emerson Jones, in what was somewhat of a surprise at the time. Jones has gone on to make the Wimbledon junior final in the meantime, so perhaps in hindsight, it may not have been a bad loss at all.
Saito also reached the Junior Doubles final of the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open, proving that she has an all-court game, with plenty of variety.
In 2022 Sara played her first event on the Women’s ITF tour, gaining her first ranking points, in the week of her 16th birthday. She has continued to juggle both tours until this year, where the main tour has become her sole focus.
Saito’s ranking since those first points were gained at the W25 event in Makinohara, Japan, has barely had time to settle. It’s been on a sharp trajectory, straight up. Exactly 12 months on from her entry onto the computer rankings, Saito turned up to the same tournament, ranked 409 in the world, and seeded 8. She went on to win the event, her first senior title, boosting her ranking up to 365. A year is a long time on the tennis scene.
But if things can change a lot in 12 months, the 9 months following, have been even more impressive. Sara started the year making the final of a W50 event in Thailand, and her results following, have gone like this:
W50 Semis
W60 Final
W75 Semis
W50 Quarters
W50 2nd Round
W35 2nd Round
W100 1st Round (losing in 3 tight sets to compatriot Moyuka Uchijima, who has also had a brilliant year)
W100 Quarters
Roland Garros Qualifying 3rd Round
W75 1st Round
W75 Semis
W100 Champion: Saito won her first title in Biarritz, defeating former top 10 player, Kristina Mladenovic in the first round, defeating 3 more players in the top 250, and then knocking off French Wildcard Margaux Rouvroy in the final.
W75 Semis
This breakout season has seen the Japanese teen, slash her ranking to 158 at time of writing, and still shows no sign of plateauing. Saito has defeated Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva in a junior event, not all that long ago, so maybe it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that she is on the way up, given Andreeva’s impact on the tour.
Currently, there are only two players under 18 ranked higher than her – Andreeva, and Brenda Fruhvirtova, and she is the 10th highest ranked teenager at this time. The current list goes:
Linda Noskova
Mirra Andreeva
Brenda Fruhvirtova
Anca Todoni
Sara Beijek
Robin Montgomery
Linda Fruhvirtova
Taylah Preston
Ella Seidel
Sara Saito
It should be a matter of time now (and a short time) before we see her in main draws of WTA events. It’s an exciting prospect to think about another teenager bursting onto the main stage. Where will she be this time next year? Top 100? Top 50? Higher?
