Dressed for success: Osaka reaches Wimbledon last 16 for first time / Photo: Henry NICHOLLS - AFP
Dressed for success: Osaka reaches Wimbledon last 16 for first time
Japan's Naomi Osaka ended her long wait to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Australian Daria Kasatkina on Friday.
Osaka has caused a stir at Wimbledon with her eye-catching outfits, but the 28-year-old is finally stealing the spotlight with her performances as well.
After advancing no further than the third round in her five previous main draw appearances at the All England Club, Osaka finally made it to the last 16 with a dominant display on Court One.
She needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Kasatkina, setting up a fourth-round clash against world number one Aryna Sabalenka or former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
"I'm really happy. In my career I'd never won on this court. I'm just glad to have made a really good memory here," Osaka said.
"I've played a lot of matches on grass over the last few weeks. I'm feeling really confident. I hope I'm able to get further and further."
Osaka's habit of wearing haute couture costumes on to court before removing them to play in her usual tennis attire has been the talk of Wimbledon.
She earned headlines with a kimono-inspired outfit prior to her first-round match and wore a long wedding-dress train for the second round.
And once again she struck a pose with her latest creation -- an all-white layered Japanese ceremonial-style kimono -- before facing Kasatkina.
The outfit, by Tokyo fashion designer Hana Yagi, featured cherry blossoms in another nod to her native Japan.
She also wore a jelly-fish themed dress at the Australian Open this year and an Eiffel Tower-inspired costume at the recent French Open.
Osaka's tennis has been as memorable as her cat-walk moments.
She reached her maiden final on grass at Bad-Homburg in June but was forced to retire in the second set with an injured ankle.
Osaka has maintained that grass-court excellence in south-west London, raising the prospect of a genuine challenge for her first Wimbledon title.
The four-time Grand Slam champion cruised to straight-sets wins over Elsa Jacquemot and Anastasia Gasanova before routing Kasatkina.
Osaka, the 14th seed, had only reached the last 16 at a Grand Slam twice since winning the Australian Open in 2021.
Having lost to Sabalenka in the fourth round of the French Open in June, Osaka is rounding into form just in time for a potential revenge mission against the Belarusian.
She was far too strong for world number 65 Kasatkina, whose ranking has slumped over the past 18 months due to poor form while she battled with a nagging hip injury.
E.Marmano--LDdC
