LONDON, July 3 : Naomi Osaka continued to make a statement at Wimbledon as she paired her flair off the court with growing confidence on it to dismiss unseeded Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 on Friday and reach the last 16 for the first time.Widely regarded as one of tennis's top fashion trailblazers, Osaka has attracted plenty of attention for eye-catching dresses in the first week, but the four-times Grand Slam champion from Japan is also letting her tennis take the spotlight.Osaka, however, said she would be perfectly fine if her attire continued to be the main talking point."I'd actually prefer to talk about my clothes," Osaka said in her press conference.
"In some ways I feel I'm a lot more equipped to talk about my clothes than to talk about my tennis. It's strange, because I've been playing tennis for 20-something years. Some days I don't feel like an expert on it."If we were to talk about my outfit, I feel I could keep going on and on and on. I find it really fun that people care and are doing deep dives into the fabric and the making-of stories. I don't mind."VARIATION OF 'KILL BILL' KIMONOAfter shedding another variation of her "Kill Bill" kimono walk-on ensemble - which this time was a flower-patterned robe - the 14th seed mixed power with precision to see off Kasatkina and continue her best run at the All England Club."The longer I'm in the tournament, the more stories I can tell with my outfits anyways, because I like to mix and match," Osaka added."Even tennis-wise, I feel really good now. I feel pretty confident. I feel I'm playing really well. There's only so many tennis questions you can answer, you know? It's like the clothing questions are endless a little bit."The 28-year-old fired a backhand winner to break Russian-born Kasatkina in the second game and then backed it up with a deep forehand to claim a double break as she raced through the first set on a sun-drenched Court One."I've actually never won on this court, so I'm really glad to have made a really good memory here," Osaka said on court earlier to loud applause."I felt confident, and she played good as well, so I'm happy with the result today."BATTLE MODE AFTER BREEZY STARTOsaka, who reached her first tour-level grass court final at Bad Homburg before retiring injured, showed she could be a force in the second week of Wimbledon as she brawled after squandering an early lead in the second set to raise two match points.She finished the second one in style to book what promises to be an intriguing clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka or former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko for a spot in the quarter-finals."My confidence is pretty high," Osaka added."I know what my grasscourt tennis looks like. It gives me a pretty stable mindset going into the match no matter who I play."I also don't really have as many doubts as I did on clay courts. Maybe it would be a little bit better for me on grass. But I'm not so sure."
