Sabalenka produced an impressive display, hitting 39 winners and 12 aces, against a battling Osaka to win 7-5, 6-3 and reach the last eight for a 14th consecutive major tournament.
The Belarusian is the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws at Roland Garros.
“I was able to kind of separate myself from what’s going on this year at the Roland Garros,” Sabalenka said of the shock results elsewhere.
“I have been around. Anything can happen. That’s tennis.”
She made it three straight wins against Osaka this year, having lost their only previous meeting at the 2018 US Open.
Sabalenka will next take on Russian Diana Shnaider as she continues her bid for a maiden French Open crown and to banish the memories of her painful final defeat last year by Coco Gauff.
“(At) this stage every time I’m just trying to focus on myself and making sure when I’m there competing, I’m fighting and doing everything I can with what I have at the moment,” she said.
“That’s my mindset, it’s basically that I’m ready to do whatever it takes to get this beautiful trophy.”
Japanese star Osaka, again sporting the sequined gold dress she likened to the Eiffel Tower at night, has to make do with her best ever run in Paris ending in the last 16.
“If I lost this match when I was younger, I’d shut myself in my room or whatever,” said the 28-year-old.
“But now I feel like obviously I love tennis, and I’m trying my best to do everything to be the best player I can.
“But… it’s kind of like a clock in/clock out type of thing. I’m excited to go home and see my daughter.”
It was the first women’s match to feature in the French Open night session since 2023, after a run of 32 consecutive men’s ties which drew repeated criticism of tournament organisers.
“I thought it was really cool. Obviously she’s really good for tennis. I would hope I’m okay for tennis, too,” said Osaka. “I think, honestly, it was really fun to play.”
Sabalenka has previously criticised the lack of women’s matches under the lights, saying last year that the WTA stars “deserve equal treatment” to the men.
“I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions,” she said. (AFP)
