The third round of Wimbledon will commence on Friday. Here are the three best women’s singles matches to keep an eye on.
(1) Aryna Sabalenka–BLR vs. Emma Raducanu–GB
Here is a battle of grand slam singles champions. Emma Raducanu of Great Britain won the 2021 United States Open final as she beat Leylah Annie Fernandez of Canada, 6-4, 6-3. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is a three-time grand slam champion. Sabalenka beat Elena Rybkina of Kazakhstan in the final of the 2023 Australian Open 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, then beat Qinwen Zhang of China in the final of the 2024 Australian Open, 6-3, 6-2, and finally beat Jessica Pegula of the United States in the final of the 2025 United States Open, 7-5, 7-5.
Sabalenka won their only prior meeting. That came in the third round of Indian Wells in 2024, which Sabalenka won as the second seed, 6-3, 7-5. Sabalenka reached the fourth round of the Indian Wells tournament in 2024 before losing to American Emma Navarro, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
(14) Elina Svitiolina–UKR vs. (24) Elise Mertens–BEL
Here we have a battle of grand slam semifinalists. Svitolina made the final four of Wimbledon in 2019 before losing to Simona Halep of Romania, 6-1, 6-3, made the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2023 as a wildcard before losing to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3, and made the semifinals of the United States Open in 2019, before losing to Serena Williams of the United States, 6-3, 6-1. Mertens made the semifinals of the 2018 Australian Open as an unseeded player before losing to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-3, 7-6. Svitolina has beaten Mertens five times in eight meetings all-time.
Naomi Osaka–JPN vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova–RUS
Osaka is a four-time grand slam champion. She beat the already retired Serena Williams of the United States 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the 2018 United States Open, the soon to be retired Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in the final of the 2019 Australian Open, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the 2020 United States Open, and Jennifer Brady of the United States 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the 2021 Australian Open. Pavlyuchenkova is a grand slam finalist and reached the final of the French Open in 2021 before losing to Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
Osaka has won two of three meetings head-to-head. Osaka won 6-2, 6-3 in ironically the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, Japan, and 6-1, 6-2, in the first round of the 2021 Australian Open, a tournament Osaka went on to win. Meanwhile, Pavlyuchenkova beat Osaka in their first meeting. That was the quarterfinals of Hong Kong in 2017, 6-3, 6-3.
