Sabalenka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, must continue to wait for her first Wimbledon title. The 28-year-old world number one struggled to find her rhythm against Osaka, who is seeded 14th. After a quick double break, Sabalenka trailed 1:4 in the first set and lost it comfortably. In the second set, she fought her way into a tiebreak but made crucial errors there.
Osaka, who like Sabalenka has won the Australian Open twice and the US Open twice, was emotional after the match. “It was a really great match. For me, it’s something very special because it was the first match I could win on this court. It means a lot to me,” Osaka said. She especially thanked her mother, who “cooked Japanese food for me.”
For Sabalenka, the defeat was historic: for the first time in four years, she missed the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, and it was her first loss in straight sets at a major in six years. She also lost a tiebreak for the first time after winning 21 in a row. Despite the exit, Sabalenka remains world number one after Wimbledon, as her only rival Elena Rybakina had already lost to Elise Mertens.
Osaka will face Karolína Muchová in the quarter-finals. The tenth-seeded Czech defeated her compatriot Barbora Krejcikova 7:5, 5:7, 6:3. Muchová, the 2023 French Open finalist, won her first WTA title on grass just last week in Bad Homburg, beating Osaka in the final – the Japanese player retired at 1:6, 0:1. Now they meet again in London on Tuesday.
Source: www.spiegel.de
