Sabalenka’s frustrations were evident when Osaka closed out the match and she whacked the ball out of Centre Court, drawing boos from the Wimbledon crowd. Osaka defeated her 6-2, 7-6 (2) as she marched into the quarterfinals as a result of the victory. 

Sabalenka did not express any frustration toward her opponent and the two shook hands after the match.

“Obviously I’m not happy with the way I played,” Sabalenka said. “She overpowered me. I felt like it was an incredible level from her. With every game we would play, I would feel worse, she would feel better. She would just go for her shots freely. I wouldn’t.”

Sabalenka had said she didn’t have any emotions following the loss and warned reporters that her answers weren’t going to be too insightful. 

“Just know that I can handle myself much better than last year,” she said. “Obviously, guys, if you were expecting something really fun, not going to happen. Probably just going to be short answers. I f–ked it up this year. Next year I’ll try to do better.”

For Osaka, Sunday marked the first time that she had made it through to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon as she looks for her first Grand Slam title since she won in Australia in 2021.