Wimbledon takeaways: Osaka reaches third round for first time since 2018

Former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka is through to the third round of Wimbledon for the first time in seven years. The four-time Grand Slam champion defeated Czech Katerina Siniakova with ease on Wednesday 6-3, 6-2 to claim back-to-back wins at the grass-court major for a third time in her career, but first since she was barely out of her teenage years. 

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

The 27-year-old reached the third round at Wimbledon in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018, but was just 1-2 at the tournament since then. She will now bid to reach the second week for the first time against former World No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who topped No. 31 seed Ashlyn Krueger of the United States in straight sets.

Here's how it all went down.

Once she got going, she didn't stop: Osaka's 1 hour and 17-minute win was more straightforward than many might've expected against Siniakova, the World No. 1 doubles player. The 29-year-old upset No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen in the first round, and had beaten Osaka in their last meeting when Osaka was the World No. 1: a straight-sets win at Roland Garros back in 2019.

But they hadn't played since them before stepping out on No. 2 Court on Wednesday. And outside of a blip in the first set where Osaka saw a 3-1 lead evaporate to 3-3, she was in command. 

She didn't face a break point in her last six service games, and took advantage as an off-form Siniakova donated eight double faults and 37 unforced errors.

"I think in today's match I did play very controlled, and I was quite happy with that," Osaka said post-match. "I think I'm also finding my game a lot better on grass. I don't feel as rushed as I used to.

"I mean, I think today I just focused a lot on being calm and also knowing that if I needed to run, I could run. So, yeah, just not feeling panicked and needing to overplay or hit winners. It was more kind of watching what she did and trying to place my ball in good areas."

Two wins in a row for the first time in a minute: Osaka has now won back-to-back matches for the first time since she saw an eight-match clay-court winning streak -- accumulated by winning the WTA 125 in Saint-Malo, France and winning three matches in Rome -- end at the hands of American Peyton Stearns in May. 

Happy birthday, baby Shai! Osaka's milestone was doubly special as her daughter, Shai, celebrated her second birthday on Wednesday.

Though Osaka was focused on the business at hand, she said that Shai's special day couldn't help but be on her mind on court.

"I woke up this morning and kind of laid in bed with her, and I felt really grateful to, I guess, be living the life that I'm living because I get to travel with her," she said. "She's so young, but she's already been to so many different places. It really is a blessing for me. I'm just excited for when she grows older and she can come with me to site. ... I did think about her birthday during the match today. I'm really grateful that I was able to win in order to play a next match."