Osaka reaches Wimbledon fourth round for first time
Naomi Osaka, former world number one, advanced to the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time by defeating Daria Kasatkina.
Former world number one Naomi Osaka broke new ground as she raced into the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time with a dominant victory over Daria Kasatkina. The Japanese 14th seed thrashed Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 on Court One in just 65 minutes.
All four of Osaka's Grand Slam singles titles have come on hard courts, and she has historically struggled to adapt her powerful baseline game on the clay of Roland Garros and the grass of the All England Club. However, she looked at home on Friday, playing confidently and efficiently.
This result comes less than five weeks after Osaka reached the last 16 of the French Open for the first time. Last month, she also made her first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open, though she was forced to retire early in the second set due to injury against Karolina Muchova. Despite that, the run in Germany appears to have boosted her confidence on grass, and she has not dropped a set at Wimbledon so far.
"I definitely felt really good today. I've played a lot of matches on grass for the past two weeks, so I felt really confident," the 28-year-old said after the match.
In the fourth round, Osaka could face a blockbuster clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka if the Belarusian beats Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko later on Friday.
