Aryna Sabalenka won a power battle against Jelena Ostapenko to set up a fourth-round rematch with Naomi Osaka.
Sabalenka and Osaka first met at the US Open in 2018, with the Japanese star going on to win her maiden grand slam title, but had not faced each other again until Indian Wells this spring.
Remarkably, this will be their fourth meeting in as many months, all in the last 16, with Sabalenka also beating Osaka in Madrid and at the French Open.
Until this season, grass would have been seen as the least likely surface for Osaka to cause an upset, but the former world number one has been in fine form this month.
Osaka reached her first final on grass in Germany ahead of Wimbledon and is yet to drop a set at the All England Club, with her 6-1 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina putting her through to the fourth round here for the first time.
The 28-year-old walked out for the contest on Court One in another version of her Japanese-themed outfit, this time donning a floor-length robe with flowing, draped sleeves.
Osaka credited coach Tomasz Wiktorowski with helping her feel more at home on grass – despite the pair training on a hard court back in the United States.
“He challenges me a lot to think outside the box,” she said. “It’s kind of made me understand grass-court tennis a lot more.
“I think when I was younger, I was a little bit more stubborn on how I wanted to play on this surface, but I realise it’s a lot more free-flowing.
“I’ve been doing really well on grass this year. My confidence is pretty high. I know what my grass-court tennis looks like. It gives me a pretty stable mindset going into the match no matter who I play. I also don’t really have as many doubts as I did on clay court.”
While her recent record against Sabalenka has not been good, Osaka is not unhappy about facing the top seed again.
“I have only lost to her and Iga (Swiatek) for the past couple of months,” she said. “Hey, a win is a win. I’ll take that.
“Also, she’s the number one player in the world. If there is someone I had to lose to, I would pick that ranking position. I would say I learned from all of those matches, so hopefully I can apply (it).”
Sabalenka’s clash with former French Open champion Ostapenko was always going to be a first-strike battle between two of the hardest hitters on tour.
Ostapenko has a strong track record on grass having made the semi-finals here back in 2018 and won two titles on the surface – two more than Sabalenka – but the world number one was just a little bit better in a 6-4 6-4 success.
The key difference was on serve, with Sabalenka powering down nine aces, while Ostapenko’s tally of 18 unforced errors was three times that of her opponent.
Asked how it felt to face an equally powerful opponent, Sabalenka said with a laugh: “That’s really scary. It can go either way so I’m happy that today was my day.
“She’s really dangerous and last match I played against her I couldn’t do anything. I’m really happy I was able to get this win, especially in straight sets.”
On playing Osaka, Sabalenka added: “Another aggressive player, a very powerful match. I’m ready to bring the fire, to fight and to do anything it takes to get through.”
