WIMBLEDON — Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova returned to the second week of Wimbledon for the first time in nine years, overcoming Naomi Osaka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a thrilling 2-hour, 3-minute third-round clash on No. 2 Court.
Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws
Pavlyuchenkova is making her 16th main-draw appearance at SW19 (compared to Osaka’s fifth), and reached the quarterfinals for the only time so far back in 2016. However, the World No. 50 is still hitting career milestones at the age of 34. Last week, she made her first career grass-court semifinal in Eastbourne.
Having made her ninth Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open in January, Pavlyuchenkova has now reached the second week of multiple majors in a single season for just the third time in her career. In 2011, she was a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros at the US Open, and in 2021 she was the Roland Garros runner-up and made the US Open fourth round.
Pavlyuchenkova had to withstand 15 aces from Osaka, who also mounted charges from 3-0 down to 4-4 in both the second and third sets.
More to come…