Daria Kasatkina produced a trademark performance of grit and guile to work her way into the third round of the 2026 Wimbledon Championships.
Shrugging off the frustration of a topsy-turvy first set, and holding firm in the thrilling final stages, Kasatkina beat Indonesia’s Janice Tjen 6-7(5) 6-1 6-4 to advance to the last 32 at SW19 for the fourth straight year.
There, she will face Naomi Osaka, the No.14 seed who dismissed Anastasia Gasanova 6-3 6-2 in just 67 minutes earlier on Wednesday.
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Osaka, a winner of nine of her past 11 matches, has never been beyond the third round at Wimbledon, whereas Kasatkina went as far as quarterfinals in 2018.
Kasatkina will hope to take another step closer to matching that career-best Wimbledon result when she faces the Japanese star on Friday.
"Naomi, she's finding her form, she just played finals in Bad Homburg, so I think she's feeling good on grass right now. So it's definitely going to be a tough one," Kasatkina told Stan Sport.
"But also I'm feeling very good finally right now, so it's good news. I'm going to rest up, prepare for the next match, it's going to be tough. I have to go really low, be fast in my legs, but yeah, looking forward to it."
Setting that match up required all of the Australian's patience and courtcraft.
Tjen, who plays in a similar style to 2021 Wimbledon champion Ash Barty, leapt out to a 4-1 lead as the depth of her slice, plus her focus and intensity, were too much for Kasatkina.
This was their first meeting, and Kasatkina adjusted, reducing errors and finding winners from both the back of the court and at the net to close the gap to 4-4.
She later saved three set points and in the subsequent tiebreak skipped out for a 5-1 lead – only for Tjen to reel off six straight points and snatch the set.
Impressively unbothered, Kasatkina responded with a speedy service hold to begin the second, then broke for a 3-1 lead, running away with the final five games of the set – helped by a far cleaner stats sheet – to level the match.
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Breaks of serve in the third and seventh games ensured Kasatkina held Tjen at bay in the taut final set.
And in epic eighth and 10th games that extended to multiple deuces and during which Tjen earned break points in both, Kasatkina held her nerve – first to push ahead 5-3, then to serve out the match after two hours and 37 minutes.
"Very tough match against an opponent I'd never faced before, who got like very tricky game, especially on grass," Kasatkina reflected.
"Things start to be better. I start to feel what exactly I have to do, like a bit more confidence, and honestly, really happy with my performance. Really proud of myself how I was able to manage the situation, because after losing first set like this, it can crack you mentally, a little bit. But I'm very glad how I was able to stay there."
Entering Wimbledon with a 0-3 record in the 2026 grasscourt season, Kasatkina has flipped the script.
And the result continues a longer-term trend of success for the Australian, who since late April has won 13 of her past 19 matches.
She has risen to the cusp of the top 60 in the WTA live rankings, and could return to that bracket with victory over Osaka.
You can watch Wimbledon on the channels of the Nine Network and Stan Sport.