By admin 
If Naomi Osaka wanted to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the first time in her career, she had to conquer two foes: Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1 who had beaten her in each of their three meetings in 2026, and the grass at the All-England Club, which hadn’t been kind to the four-time major winner in the past.
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Consider the test aced with flying colors.
Osaka, cool, calm and collected against a restless Sabalenka, took the fight to the powerful Belarusian from the baseline in a straight-sets victory Sunday. Osaka was more frequently the dictator of terms in points, won an astonishing 87% of the points on her first serve and converted the only two break points of the match. The result was a 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory for Osaka in which she beat the powerful Belarusian at her own game.
“She overpowered me,” Sabalenka said after the match. “I felt like it was incredible level from her.”
It was the exact opposite of their meeting on the red clay at Roland Garros just a month ago. Sabalenka, thanks to a booming serve and her usual blend of firepower from the baseline, pushed Osaka around to the tune of 12 aces and 39 winners. On Sunday, the slugger was outslugged.
It’s difficult to ignore the symbolism of the world No. 1 (Sabalenka) getting overpowered by the former world No. 1 (Osaka), because the latter has played like she deserves that title thus far at the All-England Club. For a third straight match, Osaka spun in 60% or more of her first serves. For a fourth straight match, she won 76% or more of the points on her first serve. Her return of serve has been dynamite, and she has fired more winners than unforced errors in three of her four matches thus far.
But beyond the numbers, Osaka simply looks more comfortable and confident on the grass. That hasn’t always been the case. Just a year ago, after an error-filled third-round defeat against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Osaka told reporters she had “nothing positive to say about myself.” Two years ago, playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2019, Osaka was bounced in the second round by teenager Emma Navarro and admitted she “didn’t feel fully confident in myself.” Even at the height of her powers back in 2019, Osaka was ousted in the tournament’s first round.
The grass has long been a source of frustration for Osaka, who has lacked confidence in herself and her footing on the surface. But her game has always been suited to the green, thanks to her big serve and groundstrokes. She even showed flashes of success on grass, particularly during her first tournament on the surface back in 2015 at Surbiton ITF W50. But her breakthrough on grass has taken much longer to materialize for the 28-year-old, who last week credited coach Tomasz Wiktorowski for helping her to grow more comfortable on the surface.
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“I would say he challenges me a lot to think outside the box,” Osaka told the WTA website. “We were doing a lot of things on the hard court-because where I train, they don’t have a grass court-we were just doing a lot of different things. It’s kind of made me understand grass-court tennis a lot more.
“I think when I was younger, I was a little bit more stubborn on how I wanted to play on this surface, but I realize it’s a lot more free-flowing.”
If you’re wondering just how far she’s come, her choice to characterize her confidence as “pretty high” is quite telling, especially when juxtaposed against her attitude in years past. Make no mistake: this is a different Osaka, physically and mentally.
She has long been a woman of firsts. Her 2026 grass court season is now littered with them. First grass-court final of her career at Bad Homburg in her tune-up to Wimbledon. First win over a top-10 player at a non-hard-court event. First trip to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Her first Wimbledon title could soon follow.
More Tennis from Sports Illustrated
- 2026 Wimbledon Midterm Grades: Naomi Osaka Stuns Aryna Sabalenka
- Three Domino Effects of Iga Świątek’s Shocking Wimbledon Loss to Alexandra Eala
- Serena Williams Shares ‘Heartbroken’ Post After Withdrawing From Wimbledon Doubles
- Tennis Mailbag: Serena Williams’s Respectable Return, Player Protest and More From Wimbledon
- Serena Williams Didn’t Win in Wimbledon Return. But She Didn’t Lose Either
This article was originally published on www.si.com as After Finally Conquering Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka Is Coming for Her First Wimbledon Title.
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