Naomi Osaka blows chance to reach Wimbledon fourth round, Ben Shelton wins in 55 seconds
The Japanese, who had not gone past the third round in four appearances at the grass court major, loses to unseeded Russian No 50 player
Naomi Osaka blew a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time as the Japanese star was beaten by Russian world No 50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Friday.
Osaka was in a strong position after taking the first set on Court Two, but her bid to finally make the last 16 imploded as Pavlyuchenkova battled back to clinch a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The 27-year-old is a four-time grand slam champion, but she has not won a major since 2021.
Osaka’s four previous appearances at Wimbledon ended in two third-round defeats and losses in the first and second rounds.
Once again she fell short at the grass-court grand slam.
Since her triumph at the Australian Open four years ago, she has been on a dismal run of 12 successive grand slam appearances without reaching the fourth round.