Sabalenka has now won three tournaments in the first week of a season after Shenzen in 2019 and Abu Dhabi in 2021.
The carnage of seeds at the world's premier grass court tennis tournament continued, with only one of the top 10 women's seeds remaining in the tournament at the fourth round.
The match started as a cagey affair until it reached 3-3 in the opening set before Halep’s game unraveled as she coughed up a litany of errors, paving the way for Osaka to reel off the next nine games without much resistance.
Romania's Simona Halep scores her first victory in eight attempts over Maria Sharapova in the third round of the China Open continuing in Beijing.
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