LONDON (AP) — In a matchup of two of the hardest hitters on tour, Naomi Osaka outslugged top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 (2) to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time on Sunday.
Sabalenka had beaten Osaka in all three of her previous matches with Osaka this year — including at the same stage of the French Open last month.
But this time Sabalenka couldn’t handle Osaka’s pace and flat groundstrokes, which had an even bigger impact than usual as her balls flew through the air faster on the warmest day of the tournament so far.
The temperature during the match reached 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit).
When it was over, Osaka performed a few fist pumps, let out a mild smile and then placed her racket over her head and spun around in delight to celebrate her first career win on Centre Court.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court," Osaka said. "And to do it here, it really means a lot.”
It was Osaka’s first win over a No. 1 player since beating Ash Barty in Beijing in 2019. That was before Osaka, a former No. 1 herself, took breaks from the tour to manage her mental health in 2021 and for maternity leave that resulted in her missing all of 2023.
Osaka unleashed so much power that, during one point early in the second set, she practically pushed Sabalenka down to the ground.
It’s the second straight Grand Slam in which Sabalenka has failed to reach the latter stages, after a stunning meltdown against Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarterfinals last month, after which Sabalenka said she “just want to quit tennis.”
Sabalenka and Osaka have each won four Grand Slam titles and all of their major trophies have come on hard courts — at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.
Osaka is coming off the first grass-court final of her career, although she retired from the championship match in Bad Homburg, Germany, last weekend because of a foot injury.
Osaka will next face Karolina Muchova, who beat 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
Before the match, Osaka came out in the white kimono she’s been wearing for her walk-ons at Wimbledon — which was inspired by a character in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Toward the end of the first set, one of Sabalenka’s coaches came down from the stands with four freshly strung rackets for her — presumably at a higher tension to better control Osaka’s pace.
Osaka set the tone early on with an inside-out backhand winner on her first break point to take a 2-1 lead in the opening set.
Then in the second-set tiebreaker, a series of errors from Sabalenka put Osaka in command.
Osaka saved the only two break points she faced and put 87% of her first serves in play — compared to 69% for Sabalenka.
Osaka also led 8-5 in aces and 21-15 in winners in the match, which lasted less than 1 ½ hours.
New women’s champion
Krejcikova’s loss ensures a new women’s champion at Wimbledon for the ninth straight time. She was the only former champion left in the women’s draw after Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Serena Williams all went out earlier.
No woman has won multiple Wimbledon titles since Williams won her seventh in 2016.
No. 4 Jessica Pegula also advanced by beating fellow American Iva Jovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Djokovic edges Federer
Earlier on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic beat 132nd-ranked qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for his 106th match victory at the All England Club.
That puts Djokovic one ahead of Roger Federer atop the all-time list for men’s match wins at Wimbledon, although he still trails Martina Navratilova’s 120.
Djokovic will next play the winner between third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 22 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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