Naomi Osaka defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the first time in eight years to reach her maiden Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory on Sunday.
Osaka, who had lost to Sabalenka three times already in 2026, produced a dominant display on Centre Court to secure the win in one hour and 28 minutes.
The victory was her first over Sabalenka since the 2018 US Open, ending the Belarusian’s three-match winning streak in their head-to-head meetings.
Osaka also snapped Sabalenka’s run of 14 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances, a streak dating back to the 2022 US Open.
It was also Sabalenka’s first straight-sets defeat at a Grand Slam since the 2020 US Open.
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The win marked Osaka’s first victory on Centre Court and her first-ever appearance in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
In a report by WTA she said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court, and to do it here, it really means a lot,” Osaka said in her on-court interview. “Going into this match, I lost to her three times in a row, so that really sucked. I wanted to turn it over, and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to do that.”
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In a week in which Osaka has embraced her Japanese culture through fashion — having donned a flowing, intricately embroidered kimono as her walk-up outfit — she became the third Japanese woman to reach the Wimbledon singles quarterfinals in the Open Era, joining Kimiko Date (1995, 1996) and Ai Sugiyama (2004).
It marks the sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career and her first not on hard courts. Her next test will be a seventh career meeting with Karolina Muchova
, and their first since last week’s Bad Homburg final, where Osaka trailed 6-1, 1-0 before retiring.
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