American Emma Navarro Takes Down Naomi Osaka In Under An Hour During Wimbledon Beatdown

Emma Navarro did not even need a full hour to get past Naomi Osaka in the second round of Wimbledon as the 23-year-old from South Carolina took down the four-time Grand Slam winner in just 58 minutes. It marked Navarro's first time playing on center court at Wimbledon, and a quick 6-4, 6-1 win is certainly a way to leave a mark.

The match looked to be a tossup when things were knotted at 3-3 in the opening set, but Osaka fired four consecutive unforced errors to give Navarro a love break. The American clearly picked up momentum following Osaka's errors reeling off 10 straight points during the match later on.

Navarro, who won a national championship at Virginia in 2021, was not a Top 50 player in the world a year ago but entered Wimbledon as the No. 19 seed.

"Naomi's obviously a great player, it's great to have her back," Navarro said on the court.

"I was able to play some good tennis at times – my first time on Centre Court. I've been having a lot of fun on grass. Today was no exception."

READ: Introvert Naomi Osaka Can’t Talk To The Media, But She’s On The SI Swimsuit Cover

On the other side of the court, Osaka only returned to action in January following a 15-month maternity break. After getting by Diana Parry of France in round one, Osaka ran into a buzzsaw in Navarro as her first Wimbledon since 2019 ended abruptly. Osaka is now 16-13 on the year having reached the quarterfinals of a tournament just once in 2024.

According to the Daily Mail, Osaka fought back tears while speaking with the media after the match.

"I didn't feel like I was playing that well. I guess, like, those doubts started trickling in a lot into my game. Obviously the second set wasn't that great," Osaka said. "I feel like for me, I don't know... I don't know why those thoughts were so prevalent, yeah."

In 2021, after withdrawing from the French Open and boycotting the media, Osaka wrote an op-ed for Time criticizing the format of press conferences while calling for athletes to receive ‘sick days’ to skip media obligations.