Wimbledon 2026 results: Aryna Sabalenka beats Jelena Ostapenko and faces Naomi Osaka next

All four of Osaka’s major titles were won on hard courts, and she struggled to play her natural, big-hitting game on the French Open clay and All England Club grass courts.

But the Japanese 14th seed, who again arrived at Court One in a flashy outfit, looked at home in SW19 as she beat Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 in just 65 minutes.

The dominant display came less than five weeks after Osaka reached the last 16 at Roland Garros for the first time.

If the Belarusian beats Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko on Friday, Osaka could face top seed Aryna Sabalenka in a blockbuster matchup next term.

“I definitely felt very good today. I’ve played a lot of matches on grass in the last two weeks, so I felt really confident,” the 28-year-old said.

Osaka made her first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open last month, but this time she had to withdraw with an injury at the start of the second set against Carolina Muchova.

But it seems the run in Germany has given Osaka a much-needed confidence boost on the surface, and she has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon.

In a near-perfect first set, Osaka committed only six unforced errors and lost only five points on serve.

Australia’s Kasatkina made some progress in the second set, recovering from an early collapse, but Osaka quickly recovered to win the next three games and see out victory.

Osaka won two US Open and two Australian Open titles between 2018 and 2021 but has only advanced past the fourth round of the Grand Slam once since her return from maternity leave in 2024.

Her daughter Shai celebrated her third birthday on Thursday, and Osaka told the crowd in a post-match interview: “I don’t think I should tell you this, but yesterday was a little bad.

“We tried to take him to the park, but then he had to take a break, so we’ll try to take him today.

“It was a great birthday, she blew out her candles and made a wish, I hope her wish is to behave better. If not, today is a new day for her!”