World number one Aryna Sabalenka battled past Jelena Ostapenko to set up a blockbuster fourth-round meeting with Naomi Osaka at Wimbledon.

Sabalenka and Ostapenko, two of the biggest hitters on the WTA Tour, went blow for blow in an entertaining evening encounter on Centre Court.

But Belarusian Sabalenka kept her cool against the increasingly frustrated 2017 French Open champion to secure a 6-4 6-4 victory and keep her hopes of a first Wimbledon title alive.

Her reward is a meeting with fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka, who thrashed Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 in just 65 minutes to reach the last 16 at SW19 for the first time.

“Another aggressive player. Another very powerful match,” Sabalenka said of Osaka, who she has a leading 4-1 head-to-head record against.

“I’m ready to fight and do whatever it takes to get through.”

Sabalenka showed her fighting spirit against Latvia’s Ostapenko, striking decisively in the fourth game of the first set and wrapping it up with a 111mph ace.

Ostapenko grew annoyed as she was unable to hold in her first three service games of the second set, gesturing wildly and directing angry shouts towards her team.

But – even at a set and 4-1 up – doubts remained over Sabalenka’s ability to close out the match after her French Open collapse from a similar position last month.

The 28-year-old capitulated from a set and 4-1 up in her quarter-final against Diana Shnaider before losing the deciding set 6-0 in a match that she joked made her want to quit tennis.

But, after missing a match point on Ostapenko’s serve at 5-3, Sabalenka held her nerve in the next game to seal the win after just an hour and 32 minutes on court.

All four of Osaka’s major 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.

But the Japanese 14th seed – who arrived on Court One in yet another showstopping outfit – looked at home at SW19 as she thrashed Kasatkina.

The dominant display came less than five weeks after Osaka reached the last 16 of Roland Garros for the first time.

“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.

In a near-perfect first set, Osaka hit just six unforced errors and lost only five points on serve.

Australia’s Kasatkina improved slightly in the second set and recovered from falling an early break down, but Osaka recovered quickly to win the next three games and see out the victory.

Osaka won two US Open and two Australian Open titles between 2018 and 2021, but she has only advanced past the fourth round of a Grand Slam once since her return from maternity leave in 2024.

Daughter Shai celebrated her third birthday on Thursday, with Osaka telling the crowd in a post-match interview: “I don’t think I should be telling you this, but she was kind of bad yesterday.

“We tried to take her to the park, but then she needed to be in time-out, so we are going to try to take her today.

“It was an awesome birthday, she blew out her candles and made a wish, so I hope her wish is to behave better. If not, today is a new day for her!”