Naomi Osaka is back to being healthy again at Wimbledon 2026. She recently reached the final at the Bad Homburg Open, but had to retire in the final with an injury. She showed no sign of that in the second round of the grass-court major against Anastasia Gasanova.
The Japanese player simply overpowered her Russian opponent from the opening of the match. Not only was Osaka playing exceedingly well, but she was performing at a level that had won her four Grand Slam titles in her career.
None of those came at Wimbledon (she has won two Australian Open titles and two US Open titles), but she proved against the overwhelmed Gasanova that she has the game to be elite on grass. In the first set alone, Osaka had 17 winners and just four unforced errors.
Naomi Osaka overwhelms Anastasia Gasanova at Wimbledon 2026
To Gasanova's credit, while she dropped the set 3-6, she wasn't playing poorly. She was playing an efficient level of tennis that might have put her in a good position to beat other players, but not Osaka, who was rarely missing a chance to win a point.
In fact, she wasn't just forcing Gasanova into bad positions; she didn't need to. Instead, she was playing as if her opponent didn't matter. She could have been playing against a wall and had the same brutal success. Osaka was brilliant, enough to give her fans hope that she could win the entire tournament.
In the second set, she did suffer a slight dip in form, but likely only because her first-set form was high even for her at her best. Eventually, she was bound to dip a bit. Even then, she was far too much for the 27-year-old Russian. As long as Osaka kept playing her game, she was going to win.
At 2-all, Osaka basically ended any drama left in the match. She broke Anastasia Gasanova, held with ease, and then got another break. It was suddenly 5-2 in set two, and the Japanese player could fully begin thinking about who she would play in the third round.
That will be the winner of the match between Janice Tjen and Daria Kasatkina. Naomi Osaka will be the heavy favorite to move into the fourth round.
