Naomi Osaka produced one of the shocks of the tournament to beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) at Wimbledon on 5 July, reaching the quarter finals for the first time as Novak Djokovic also made history elsewhere on Centre Court.
Osaka avenged a straight sets defeat by Sabalenka at the French Open last 16 in June with a superb display against her fellow four time Grand Slam champion. It is five years since Osaka last lifted a major title, at the 2020 Australian Open, but she has looked increasingly revitalised under coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who previously guided Iga Swiatek, reaching the US Open semi finals last year and carrying that form into this season. The 28 year old is yet to drop a set through her opening four matches at Wimbledon.
Seeded 14th, Osaka broke in the third game of the first set with a blistering backhand, and continued to rattle Sabalenka with fierce ground strokes from the baseline, forcing an anguished scream from the Belarusian after a second break of serve. Sabalenka, who has long struggled in windy conditions, looked increasingly out of sorts and stormed off court ahead of the second set. She repeatedly struck her racquet against her head as Osaka forced a tie break, and despite having won her last 21 tie breaks at Grand Slams, Sabalenka could not prevent Osaka closing out victory in style.
Osaka reflected on the significance of the win afterwards. “For me this court is so special. This is the first match I’ve won on this court. It means a lot,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court and to do it here, really means a lot. I lost to her three times in a row. That really sucked. I wanted to have the opportunity to overturn that.”
She also credited her mother’s cooking, watching on from the players’ box, for her recent form. “She cooks a lot. I feel like her cooking is powering me. I would like another meal tonight. She cooks a lot of Japanese food,” she said.
The pair had already met three times in 2026, with Sabalenka winning on the hard courts of Indian Wells and on clay in both Madrid and at the French Open. The world number one, who has lost in the semi finals in each of her last three visits to Wimbledon and has never reached the final, suffered another damaging result having also fallen unexpectedly to Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarter finals. Osaka will next face Czech tenth seed Karolina Muchova for a place in the semi finals.
Elsewhere on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic broke Roger Federer’s men’s singles win record at Wimbledon, beating Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the fourth round to move to 106 wins at the tournament. Only Martina Navratilova, with 120, has won more singles matches across the men’s and women’s events at the All England Club.
The 39 year old reached his 17th Wimbledon quarter final and ninth in succession, extending his own record for Grand Slam quarter final appearances to 66. He will face either Canadian third seed Felix Auger Aliassime or Spanish 22nd seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina next, keeping alive the possibility of a blockbuster semi final against defending champion Jannik Sinner, who faced Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki later on the same day.
Djokovic extended his perfect record against players ranked outside the top 100 at Wimbledon to 20 matches, and remains unbeaten in 34 Grand Slam matches against qualifiers. He struggled with his vision in the opening set and needed three hours and 25 minutes to see off the 132nd ranked Safiullin, who briefly moved 5-2 ahead before Djokovic forced and won a tie break. He dominated the second set before dipping again in the third, smashing a ball in frustration that drew boos from the crowd.
“Survive to thrive, that’s how I feel. So hopefully the thriving part is coming,” Djokovic said afterwards. “Our mind wanders all the time, it’s very hard to keep it in the present moment, whoever does that is a winner. I don’t get to feel inferior from the back of the court with too many players. Today was one of those days I didn’t want to stay in the rally for too long to be honest, so I had to mix things up.”
He apologised for his on court frustrations following the match. “The outbursts as well, the meltdowns, I had a few of those today as well, I apologise,” he said.
Djokovic is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, which would move him clear of Margaret Court and level with Federer on eight Wimbledon crowns, while also making him the oldest man to win a major in the Open era.
