Naomi Osaka had lost three times to Aryna Sabalenka this year but finally delivered a breakthrough victory at a really good time.
Osaka, seeded 14th, served eight aces on Sunday while recording a solid 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over World No. 1 Sabalenka at the All England Club in London to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time.
But Osaka avenged those three setbacks in style to send the top-seeded Sabalenka home and further open a draw in which defending champion and No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland and No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan have also been eliminated.
It also marked the first time Osaka won a match on Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court,” Osaka said afterward. “And to do it here, it really means a lot.”
The victory was Osaka’s first over a No. 1 player since beating Ash Barty in Beijing in 2019.
Osaka clearly found motivation in the three recent losses to Sabalenka.
Sabalenka won in straight sets in the round of 16 on the hard court at Indian Wells and also was victorious twice on clay. She prevailed in three sets in the round of 16 at Madrid and in two sets in the round of 16 at the French Open.
“Going into this match, I lost to her three times in a row, so that really sucked,” Osaka said. “I wanted to turn it over, and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to do that.”
Sabalenka nearly forced a third set before Osaka won a game to force a tiebreak, which she dominated to end the match.
“Level-wise today I wasn’t world No. 1. Yesterday I was world No. 1,” Sabalenka said. “I feel like … I don’t even want to think about ranking at this point. I just want to go get completely drunk, forget about tennis and try to get in better shape.”
Osaka will next face 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova, who recorded a 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win over fellow Czech and 2024 Wimbledon champ Barbora Krejcikova. Muchova had 50 winners, including nine aces.
Also, fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula overcame a slow start to record a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Iva Jovic to advance to the quarterfinals.
Pegula, 32, rebounded after dropping a set for the first time this tournament to dispatch the 16th-seeded Jovic and improve to 8-0 against American women this year. Pegula is the highest-seeded woman left in the tournament.
Reaching the quarterfinal for the second time in four years, Pegula will take on seventh-seeded Coco Gauff, who rallied past 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, under the Court No. 1 roof.
Trailing 4-5 in the first set, Jovic won four straight points before ultimately serving out the set before Pegula stormed back.
Pegula benefited from precise groundstrokes and limiting her miscues to change the momentum of the match.
Gauff prevailed without her best stuff, committing 46 unforced errors and serving up nine double faults. But she managed to break Bencic twice in each of the final two sets and used a pair of forehand winners to help wrap up the match on her serve.
–Field Level Media
