A resurgent Naomi Osaka stunned world number one Aryna Sabalenka in a brilliant performance to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time.

Japan’s Osaka out-served, out-hit and out-thought her fellow four-time Grand Slam champion to win 6-2 7-6 (7-2) on Centre Court.

This is Sabalenka’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam since the 2022 French Open, and the first time she has exited one in straight sets for 122 matches.

But she fell to an inspired performance by Osaka, who held her racquet to her head in disbelief after clinching victory on her second match point.

It is a first Wimbledon last-eight appearance for Osaka, who also reached the second week of the French Open for the first time last month.

“It’s been a long time since I had so much fun on the court,” said Osaka.

“To do it here means a lot.”

This was the fourth time in three months that the two big-hitters had met, with Sabalenka winning the previous three encounters.

This time Osaka was dominant throughout, matching Sabalenka pace-for-pace and moving well around the court.

Sabalenka made a hasty exit afterwards as her search for a first Grand Slam of the year continues.

Osaka will go on to face Czech 10th seed Karolina Muchova for a place in the semi-finals.

Muchova’s victory over 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova means there will be a different women’s singles champion for the 10th tournament in a row.

Later, Coco Gauff completed a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Belinda Bencic with two minutes to go before Wimbledon’s 23:00 BST curfew kicked in.

American Gauff tapped her watch in celebration after cracking down a service winner to set up a meeting with fourth seed Jessica Pegula.

Pegula – who often plays doubles with Gauff – claimed a 4-6 6-3 6-1 win over fellow American Iva Jovic to advance.

Osaka had struggled to find her best form since returning from maternity leave in July 2023, but a change of coach late last year seems to have helped.

Under Tomasz Wiktorowski – who previously coached Iga Swiatek – Osaka reached the 2025 US Open semi-finals before recording career-best results at Roland Garros and now here.

Asked for the reasons behind her improvement on grass-courts, Osaka said: “The big Polish man! Shout out Tomasz!

“Shout out to the rest of my team, they are the best. I have so much fun with them and I learn so much from them.

“I’m so grateful they are on this journey with me.”

She did to Sabalenka what the top seed usually does to other players – dominated the baseline rallies and relied on her serve and forehand to take control of the point.

A huge winner - the second of 21 she would hit in the match – gave Osaka an early break in the first set, and she went a double break up as errors flew off Sabalenka’s racquet.

Both hit the ball hard, but Osaka was more controlled, allowing her to race through the opener in just 32 minutes.

Sabalenka struggled in the second set, at one point hitting her head with her racquet, but her serve bailed her out of trouble.

Having won 21 successive tie-breaks at a major, Sabalenka would have been confident of forcing a decider – but Osaka again took charge, racing to a 5-1 lead and not looking back.

Rare early Slam exit for Sabalenka

Having reached at least the semi-finals of all four majors last year, Sabalenka has had a difficult year by her high standards.

While she has won the joint-most WTA Tour titles this season, she suffered a three-set defeat in the Australian Open final for the second year in a row.

She then imploded from a set and double break up in the French Open quarter-finals – a match she joked made her want to quit tennis.

But while she was visibly and vocally frustrated against Osaka, this was not a case of Sabalenka beating herself – she was outplayed by a better opponent.

Sabalenka spoke to the media very soon after her loss, but said there would be no repeat of her 2025 French Open media conference, where she was criticised for her comments about the match.

“I didn’t play my best, and she played probably her best. Sometimes that happens,” Sabalenka said.

“Sometimes you can go out there and do everything you can and still lose the match.

“Well done for Naomi. Wishing her the best.” (BBC)

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