Aryna Sabalenka outduels Naomi Osaka to reach French Open quarterfinals

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Sabalenka Outduels Osaka

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Aryna Sabalenka outduels Naomi Osaka to reach French Open quarterfinals

Aryna Sabalenka has one four Grand Slam singles titles, but is seeking her first away from the hard courts. Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

By Ava Wallace

June 2, 2026 Updated 5:14 am GMT+7

PARIS — Aryna Sabalenka emerged the victor from a heavyweight clash with fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka Monday night at the French Open, her hopes for her first Grand Slam title away from hard courts still intact.

Sabalenka won 7-5, 6-3 in a battle that showcased her variety and fearlessness against one of the few players who can match her groundstrokes, pound for pound. She is the only Grand Slam champion remaining in the women’s draw at Roland Garros, and her laser focus Monday made it seem like she knows the opportunity at hand. She delivered a masterclass in serving, drilling 12 aces, and ended Osaka’s career-best run at Roland Garros in the fourth round.

She advanced to face Russia’s Diana Shnaider, a lefty, in the quarterfinals.

“I love it, actually. I love the rhythm, surprisingly,” Sabalenka said, smiling, in a news conference.

Why wouldn’t she? When playing as well as she is, facing anyone must be a joy.

There was increased pressure even before the players walked out onto court Monday. Osaka and Sabalenka were playing the first women’s match scheduled in the night session at Roland Garros since 2023, and just the tournament’s fifth since it introduced a night session in 2021.

“I think it’s really important that they put our match today as a night session. I think that’s the right move,” Sabalenka, who said she values the recovery time afforded by playing day matches, said.

“I think the atmosphere and the attention that this match brought is going to show them that probably for the future they should consider putting, at least sometimes, women’s matches at night. So I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions.”

From an entertainment factor, there are no two players in women’s tennis better to do so.

Sabalenka, the world No. 1, has never shied from a big stage nor wasted the chance to build her profile as a global star. Since leaving sports marketing behemoth IMG to sign in 2025 with the boutique agency Evolve — which Osaka founded with her agent, Stuart Duguid, in 2022, though Osaka left to return to IMG in December — she’s announced brand partnerships with the likes of Gucci and Emirates Airlines, filling her portfolio with top-class brands to match her tennis. Why women don't have the best TV slot at the French Open Ava Wallace and Rachael Tinde

Osaka achieved global superstardom years ago. She employs a creative team and works with couturiers to design her singular on-court looks. Now nothing motivates her quite like a primetime atmosphere with a top player staring across the net from her. So it was Monday night in Paris, and fans who had been deprived of seeing the best players on the women’s tour duke it out were engaged from even before the first ball. They were seated for warm-ups and peppered the match with cheers for their favorite player.

They stood to record Osaka’s walk onto Court Philippe-Chatrier, for which she debuted yet another overskirt paired with the golden Nike dress she’s been wearing all tournament. This outfit was simple yet effective: a tulle-and-sequin skirt that extended her match dress all the way to the red clay. She glittered like a jewel in the evening light.

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In a tournament where No. 7 Elina Svitolina and No. 8 Mirra Andreeva are the only other top-10 seeds remaining, and the men’s draw has been riddled by upsets, Sabalenka has held firm. The world No. 1 hasn’t dropped a set at the French Open.

She came in with a deep reservoir of confidence to drink from against Osaka. They’d played just once, in 2018, before meeting twice in two months this year. Sabalenka won both bouts — a 6-2, 6-4 rout that was over in 80 minutes at Indian Wells and a much stiffer, two-hour-and-20-minute battle on red clay in Madrid, which Sabalenka took 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2.

Sabalenka said before the match that she was looking forward to the fight.

It started exactly as Sabalenka predicted, as a slugfest. She and Osaka traded walloping serves and forehands as if they were playing on a hard court, not red clay. Sabalenka racked up seven aces in the first set to Osaka’s one.

Aryna Sabalenka outplayed Naomi Osaka from the corners in a hard-hitting encounter. Julien de la Rosa / AFP via Getty Images

But part of the reason Sabalenka has had a chokehold on women’s tennis for the past few years is her boldness in big points — points during which other players might feel nerves or try to calculate which shots present the least risk while offering the biggest payoff.

There is no such equation in Sabalenka’s head during those points. At 5-5 in what had been an evenly contested first set, Sabalenka attacked a second serve from Osaka to set herself up for a backhand winner and break point. Osaka then sent a backhand into the net, and it was up to Sabalenka to serve for the set.

The best closer in women’s tennis sealed it with an ace.

“I don’t feel like I can play her loose,” Osaka said in her news conference. “It’s a really hard feeling to describe whenever I play her, but so unlike anyone else on the tour.”

Sabalenka carried that momentum into the second set, when Osaka could barely get her teeth into games on Sabalenka’s serve. It took the Belarusian less time to break in the second set as she mixed in more slice and drop shots to supplement a steady drumbeat of aces, dragging Osaka around the court.

Sabalenka’s ability to switch on a dime from hammering groundstrokes to laying in drop shots is what separates her from other power players, and never is that gulf more apparent than when she plays Osaka. Sabalenka clinched a break to go up 4-3 with a drop volley and from there, she was in control, demonstrating how she and the other top players of post-Osaka’s peak have moved tennis forward.

“I’m just trying to be focused on myself and make sure that when I’m there competing,” Sabalenka said. “I’m bringing my best level that I have, and I’m there, I’m fighting, and you know, I’m doing everything I can to get this trophy.”

For Osaka, it was enough to call it a good clay-court season — her best in years. Newfound perspective she called “an enlightenment” means she doesn’t ride the same rollercoaster she did as a young player. She is looking forward to going home and seeing her daughter. Asked if she felt daunted by the prospect of closing the gap between her and the top player in women’s tennis, she laughed.

“I feel as long as I wake up every day and hit the ball and think I’m improving, that itself is a win,” she said.

Osaka has her victory. Sabalenka’s is still three matches away.

Ava Wallace is a senior tennis writer for The Athletic. She joined in 2026 after 10 years at The Washington Post, where she covered the NBA, WNBA, women’s college basketball, tennis and the Olympics. She hails from the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Tagged To: Women's Tennis Culture Sports Business Tennis

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