Naomi Osaka loses to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 3rd round at Wimbeldon

Howard Fendrich · The Associated Press

· Posted: Jul 04, 2025 10:41 AM EDT | Last Updated: 41 minutes ago

Naomi Osaka mightiness beryllium much comfy connected writer courts these days but she volition erstwhile again permission Wimbledon successful the 3rd circular aft a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 nonaccomplishment to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova connected Friday.

Osaka said afterward that she was upset by the effect due to the fact that she "actually thought I could play well, like, successful general" and "make a heavy tally here."

"I wanted to bash amended than I did before," she said. "Also, I felt similar I was trying truthful hard."

Asked what positives she tin instrumentality distant from the grass-court information of the season, Osaka replied: "I'm conscionable going to beryllium a antagonistic quality being today. I'm truthful sorry. I person thing affirmative to accidental astir myself, which is thing I'm moving on."

She is simply a erstwhile No. 1 present ranked 50th and a four-time Grand Slam champion, each connected hard courts — she won the U.S. Open and Australian Open doubly apiece.

Osaka arrived astatine the All England Club this twelvemonth having mislaid 3 of her past 4 matches astatine the spot and with a vocation grounds of 5-4 there. Her champion showing was getting to the 3rd circular successful 2017 and 2018; she missed the tourney successful 2021, 2022 and 2023.

After a triumph earlier this week, she spoke astir however she played with fearfulness connected writer for years due to the fact that of a genu wounded she got by slipping connected the aboveground astir a decennary ago, but was feeling amended astir it lately.

"With age, fearfulness benignant of crept on and, I guess, paralyzed me, successful a way," she said. "Now I'm benignant of conscionable getting implicit that and trying to dispersed my wings connected grass. I deliberation it is working, and I deliberation I americium moving beauteous well."

But from 4-all successful the 3rd acceptable Friday, Pavlyuchenkova grabbed 8 of the match's past 10 points, holding astatine love, past breaking successful the last crippled with the assistance of a trio of forehand unforced errors by Osaka.

"A bulk of you were cheering for Naomi, but that's OK," Pavlyuchenkova, who turned 34 connected Thursday, told the assemblage astatine Court No. 2. "I'm mentally tough, truthful that didn't fuss maine astatine all. The opposite: It gave maine energy."

Pavlyuchenkova, who is ranked 53rd, was the 2021 runner-up astatine the French Open, and Friday's triumph moved her into the 4th circular astatine Wimbledon for the archetypal clip since she was a quarterfinalist 9 years ago.

Osaka, meanwhile, already was looking up to the adjacent portion of the play — connected the North American hard courts starring into the U.S. Open, which begins connected Aug. 24.

"I'm gladsome to beryllium done with this," she said, "and I'm looking guardant to the hard courts."

Dabrowski moves on

Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand spouse Erin Routliffe advanced to the 3rd circular of the women's doubles gully astatine Wimbledon connected Friday.

The No. 2 seeds scored a consecutive sets (6-3, 6-3) triumph against Turkey's Zeynep Sönmez and Polina Kudermetova, converting four of 13 break-point chances and winning 78 per cent of their second-serve points.

Dabrowski and Routliffe are looking to adhd a 2nd Grand Slam rubric aft winning the 2023 U.S. Open. Routliffe, who grew up adjacent Toronto and lives successful Montreal, represents her autochthonal New Zealand internationally.

The duo besides captured the WTA Finals rubric successful Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, past November.

Dabrowski, the lone Canadian inactive competing astatine Wimbledon, is besides competing successful mixed doubles with Croatia's Nikola Mektić astatine the All England Club.

They look Germany's Laura Siegemund and France's Édouard Roger-Vasselin connected Saturday.