Naomi Osaka first put on a familiar fashion show and then put on another grass-court tennis supershow as she defeated Australia’s last women’s hope Daria Kasatkina at Wimbledon.
The Japanese superstar took to court number one in her latest statement look, ditching the kimono and obi and instead opting for a flowing long coat with a floral pattern.
It would take a very good player to get away with such a run and, of course, Osaka did then really impress with her best Grand Slam performance when she stormed into the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time with a runaway 6-1, 6-3 triumph.
Kasatkina, who played by no means poorly, varying the variety of her tricky play to fight through the second set, was still ultimately unable to cope with the barrage of 25 winners that poured out of the former world number one’s racket in a fairly brutal 65-minute demolition game.
Naomi Osaka bows to Daria Kasatkina before her match at Wimbledon (Getty Images: Andrew Matthews/PA Images)
Kasatkina’s departure meant Alex de Minaur found himself in a familiar position: the last Australian remaining in the singles draw. He will play American Zachary Svaida in the third round on Saturday night (AEST).
“I’m very happy – I’ve never won on this court. I’m just really glad I made some really good memories here,” said four-time major winner Osaka, 28, who appears to be playing her best tennis since returning from maternity leave two and a half years ago.
“I definitely felt really good today,” she added, taking time to praise Kasatkina for her valiant effort in the second set as she fought back from 3-3 down, only for Osaka to take her game up a notch and set up a tantalizing fourth-round showdown with Aryna Sabalenka or former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
If world number one Sabalenka wins, she will have a tough time against Osaka, who after reaching her first grass-court final in Germany last week appears to have discovered the mixture of patience and targeted aggression that has long threatened to make her a formidable force on the SW19 lawns.
“I’m just trying to take it one day at a time, one point at a time,” Osaka said, revealing nothing about her real ambitions for next week, while good judges such as former Australian star Alicia Molik now believe she has a real chance of winning her first Grand Slam since claiming the 2021 Australian Open crown.
Osaka also seemed to be in a happy place both on and off the field as she got the crowd laughing afterwards with stories of how her daughter got a little naughty on her third birthday while visiting the park ahead of the match.
AARP