Emma Raducanu is still searching for her second career Grand Slam title, following her surprising US Open triumph in 2021, and she hopes to achieve it here at the 2025 Wimbledon. The British international is through to the third round, and she’ll face her biggest test yet in the No. 1 player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka has become the odds-on favourite to win Wimbledon, even if she has never won it before. That is because her competition has significantly lessened, following the surprise early exits of Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, and last year’s surprise finalist, Jasmine Paolini. Upsets have indeed become a theme in this year’s edition.
Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka is slowly building momentum after a poor run of form in her previous tournaments. The Wimbledon 2025 odds might have her as a tournament dark horse if she keeps it up.
Here is some of the latest Wimbledon 2025 news, courtesy of SBOTOP.
Raducanu beats former champion in statement win
Emma Raducanu entered her home Grand Slam with low expectations. She dropped to No. 40 in the WTA rankings after losing to Maya Joint in the Lexus Eastbourne Open Round of 16. She had never gone past the quarter-finals in any competition this season.
After dispatching Mingge Xu in straight sets in the Wimbledon opening round, Raducanu raised eyebrows when she won 6-3, 6-3 against Marketa Vondrousova, who just won the Berlin Open two weeks ago. She has moved into the last 32 for the third time in her four Wimbledon appearances.
Raducanu needed only one hour and 40 minutes to eliminate the 2023 champion. The 22-year-old stayed patient in the rallies by using her backhand effectively, and she was able to attack more once Vondrousova grew frustrated. Her forehand was her main weapon against Vondrousova, as she received an 8.2 rating in Wimbledon’s shot quality analysis, much higher than the 7.0 average in the women’s draw. It’s safe to say that her work with coach Mark Petchey is paying off.
“I think that was one of the best matches I’ve played in a long time, which I’m very proud of,” Raducanu said. “At the same time, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything outrageous, which gives me a lot of confidence. I think I was just doing the basics very, very well. I think I executed really well today. I’m just so happy to have that level.”
Sabalenka still the major favourite
Aryna Sabalenka is coming off a relentless performance on Wednesday, edging past Marie Bouzkova 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the third round, where she’ll take on Emma Raducanu. Her record this year against opponents ranked outside the Top 20 has improved to 29-4.
The world No. 1 finished with 40 winners against only 16 unforced errors. Sabalenka also served five aces and won 31 of 35 first-serve points and was 27-for-34 in points that she finished at the net.
After an intense back-and-forth in the opening set, Sabalenka separated herself when the score was on serve at 4-5. Sabalenka hit two huge shots, and Bouzkova couldn’t land a forehand. On set point, Sabalenka hit a sizzling forehand return against Bouzkova’s weak second serve. Sabalenka broke Bouzkova’s serve in the sixth game of the second set and rode that advantage to the end. She secured the match point with another powerful forehand shot.
“I know that if I’ll be focusing on myself and if I’ll be there fighting for every point, I know that I have big chances to get through,” Sabalenka told reporters. “Before I would get too nervous, I would think about everything outside of tennis, outside of that court. Nowadays, I’m trying to just think take it one step at a time basically.”
Osaka breaks seven-year drought
Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka is through to the Wimbledon third round for the first time since 2018. The Japanese international won 6-3, 6-2 against Kateřina Siniaková to notch back-to-back victories at the grass court for a third time in her career.
Osaka only needed one hour and 17 minutes to dispatch her Czech counterpart, who is coming off a huge upset victory over Qinwen Zhang. Outside of a lapse in the first set where her 3-1 edge became 3-3, Osaka was in the driver’s seat for much of the contest. The 27-year-old didn’t face a break point in her last six service games and exploited Siniaková’s eight double faults and 37 unforced errors.
Up next for Osaka is former world No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who just won against Ashlyn Krueger in straight sets yesterday.
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