
Osaka form continues with thumping win over Kasatkina
Naomi Osaka is in the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career after recording a thumping 6-1 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina.
In-form Osaka will now face either top seed Aryna Sabalenka or Jelena Ostapenko in the last 16, having impressed once again in her Court One win on Friday.
Victory rarely looked in doubt after Osaka made a magnificent start, claiming the first five games on her way to an emphatic first-set success.
Kasatkina was broken in the first game of the second set but briefly attempted a fightback by recovering the break to level the set at 3-3.
However, Osaka has been producing some of her best tennis over recent weeks and the Japanese star responded superbly to reel off the next three games and seal a comfortable triumph.
4/4 - Naomi Osaka is the third Japanese in the Open Era to reach the Women’s Singles Fourth Round at all four Majors after Ai Sugiyama and Kimiko Date. En plein.#Wimbledon | @Wimbledon @WTA pic.twitter.com/9JILymLxOs
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) July 3, 2026
There was also a straightforward third-round win for fourth seed Jessica Pegula, who brushed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro aside with the same 6-1 6-3 scoreline recorded by Osaka.
Progress was much less serene for Belinda Bencic, though, with the 11th seed needing to win a deciding set tie-break to eventually prevail 6-4 4-6 7-6 (10-6) against a resilient Anna Kalinskaya.
Osaka breaks new ground at Wimbledon
Osaka wrapped up victory in just 65 minutes and will be delighted to have put in a clean and powerful performance.
She is yet to drop a set at Wimbledon this year, having also made the final of the Bad Homburg Open on grass last week in an impressive run of recent form.
Osaka finished the contest with 25 winners to just 13 unforced errors and won 22 of 27 points on her first serve, offering up just one break point to Kasatkina across the whole match.
This was Kasatkina's fourth consecutive appearance in the third round, but she always looked outmatched against four-time major winner Osaka, who, based on her impressive grass-court displays this season, looks like a formidable potential rival for Sabalenka.
Osaka now leads the head-to-head against Kasatkina 4-0, and also beat the Australian at a major in last year's US Open.
Having finally moved past the third-round stage at the fourth time of asking at Wimbledon, Osaka ends a 10-year wait for a Japanese player to reach the women's singles last 16, matching the achievement of Misaki Doi in 2016.
And she is just the third Japanese player – after Ai Sugiyama and Kimiko Date – to have made the fourth round at all four major tournaments.











