LONDON — Naomi Osaka reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time Friday, defeating No. 24 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3 in just 65 minutes to complete second-week appearances at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
The victory marked another milestone for the former world No. 1, who has now reached the Round of 16 at every major at least once. Osaka has advanced to the fourth round nine times overall, including title-winning runs at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Kasatkina, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2018, had also completed her own career set of Grand Slam fourth-round appearances earlier this year at the Australian Open. But the Australian-born player representing Australia was unable to solve Osaka’s aggressive game, as the Japanese star improved to 4-0 in their head-to-head series and 8-1 in sets.
Osaka dominated from the opening game, dropping only five points on serve in the first set while racing to a 6-1, 3-1 advantage. Kasatkina briefly fought back by extending rallies and leveling the second set at 3-3, but Osaka immediately regained control by surviving a lengthy service game before breaking serve once more and comfortably closing out the match.
The result represents a long-awaited breakthrough for Osaka on grass.
She showed early promise on the surface by reaching the Surbiton ITF final in 2015 and advancing to the Wimbledon third round in both 2017 and 2018. However, it took eight years for her to finally progress beyond that stage at the All England Club.
Her improved performances have coincided with her partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, who has overseen her first full grass-court campaign. Osaka also reached her first grass-court final last week in Bad Homburg before arriving in London.
“I would say he challenges me a lot to think outside the box,” Osaka said. “We were doing a lot of things on the hard court because where I train, they don’t have a grass court. It’s kind of made me understand grass-court tennis a lot more.”
Osaka acknowledged that she previously struggled to adapt her game to grass but said Wiktorowski’s training methods have helped her embrace a more flexible approach.
“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,” she said. “Tomasz is doing a lot of really weird drills that force me to come forward. I was never one that was too comfortable coming forward. It made me more aware of the depth of the ball and the speed of the ball.”
Osaka’s reward is a blockbuster fourth-round encounter against world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko later Friday to continue her title challenge. The meeting will be their fourth of the season and the first on grass, with Sabalenka holding a 3-1 advantage in the rivalry after winning their previous three encounters in 2026.
Confident after her breakthrough run at Wimbledon, Osaka will hope her improved comfort on grass can produce her biggest victory at the tournament yet.
