Former world number one Naomi Osaka broke new ground as she raced into the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time with victory over Daria Kasatkina.
All four of Osaka’s Grand Slam singles titles have been won on hard courts, and she has struggled to play her natural, big-hitting game on the French Open clay and All England Club grass-courts.
But the Japanese 14th seed – who arrived on Court One in yet another showstopping outfit – looked at home at SW19 as she thrashed Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 in just 65 minutes.
The dominant display comes less than five weeks after Osaka reached the last 16 of Roland Garros for the first time.
Osaka could face top seed Aryna Sabalenka in a blockbuster clash next if the Belarusian beats Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko later on Friday.
“I definitely felt really good today. I’ve played a lot of matches on grass for the past two weeks, so I felt really confident,” the 28-year-old said.
Osaka made her first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open last month, although on that occasion she was forced to retire injured at the start of the second set against Karolina Muchova.
However, it seems that run in Germany has given Osaka a much-needed boost of confidence on the surface, and she has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon.
