Aryna Sabalenka has been knocked out in the fourth round of Wimbledon by an inspired Naomi Osaka, blowing the women’s draw wide open.
With eight grand slam titles between them, it was Osaka who produced a big upset with a 6-2, 7-6(2) straight-sets victory on Monday (AEST).
Naomi Osaka celebrates her victory. Getty Images
The top-seeded Sabalenka was left screaming in frustration during a 32-minute opening set as her power game misfired.
The second set was more like the high-octane contest the crowd expected, but a serene Osaka stayed cool to snap Sabalenka’s streak of 21 unbeaten tiebreaks in majors and claim her biggest win since returning to the tour in 2024.
After netting a backhand on match point, Sabalenka took her anger out on a ball, blasting it high out of the Centre Court.
Osaka’s win not only took her into the quarter finals of Wimbledon for the first time, it left the draw intriguingly poised with no clear favourite.
She will face 10th seed Karolina Muchova in the next round, whose win over fellow Czech player Barbora Krejcikova guaranteed a ninth successive first-time women’s champion at the All England Club.
“I think it was a really fun match. I’m really grateful for this. Even if I lost, I would still think it was a great match,” Osaka said.
“I mean it’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court. To do it here, it really means a lot. I lost to her like three times in a row, so that really sucked.
“So I wanted to turn it over.”
After third-round defeats for defending champion Iga Swiatek and second seed Elena Rybakina, the door seemed to have swung wide open for Sabalenka following three successive semi-final runs, but she was well below her best.
The world No.1 gave a brutally honest answer in her post-match presser.
“Guys, if you were expecting something really fun, not going to happen … I f—-d it up this year. I just want to go get completely drunk, forget about tennis,” she said.