WHAT HAPPENED: An American will compete in the semifinals of the 2024 US Open, and her name is Emma Navarro.
The No. 13 seed followed up her fourth-round upset of defending champion Coco Gauff with a 6-2, 7-5 win over former world No. 2 Paula Badosa in Wednesday's first women's quarterfinal inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Navarro was 5-1 down in the second set against Badosa, seeded No. 26, but ripped off a staggering six consecutive games to seal a spot in the penultimate round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
“After I got her back to 5-2,” Navarro said, “I had a little bit of an inkling that it would be two sets. I just wanted to stay really tough. Even if I did lose the second set, I wanted to set the tone for the third set.
“I always say I can’t see the future, but maybe today I could a little bit,” Navarro added. “I just felt like maybe I could win this in two sets.
“It’s crazy! Moving onto the semifinals of the US Open, baby!”
In the first set, Navarro appeared unrattled. The No. 13 seed and former University of Virgina player built a quick 3-0 lead when Badosa double-faulted on the last two points of her first service game. Leading 5-2, Navarro broke the Spaniard again when Badosa sent a dropshot wide on the third break point of the game. In the next game, Navarro held to win the set, 6-2, in 29 minutes in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Navarro had 16 winners (to Badosa’s five) and put 69% of her first serves in play.
In the second set, Badosa broke Navarro in the first game. The Spaniard found her confidence and loosened up with a pair of aces to win the fourth game on serve and lead, 3-1. Badosa broke Navarro again a game later after a long rally when Navarro’s backhand went long on the second break point. Badosa served for the set at 5-2 but Navarro, still chill, broke her and won 12 of the next 14 points to tie the set at 5-5. Navarro went up, 6-5, by winning every point on serve. She then broke Badosa on her first match point with a dropshot winner.
WHAT IT MEANS: In the semifinals, Navarro will face either No. 7 seed and Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen or No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Navarro is 1-1 in her head-to-head against Sabalenka. Former world No. 1 Sabalenka beat Navarro in the Round of 16 at this year’s French Open, but lost to the American at Indian Wells last year.
Navarro is 0-2 against Zheng. Their last match was on clay at the Paris Olympics, where Navarro pushed Zheng to three sets before exiting in the Round of 16.
“I’ll be up for the challenge of either of them,” Navarro said. “I think they’ll come aggressively at me, whichever one it is, but I’ll be ready.
“I’m at the point in my career where I’m not scared of any result or making a run in any tournament.”
MATCH POINT: Navarro is now sixth player in the last 40 years to make the US Open semifinal without a single previous win in the US Open main draw, joining Steffi Graf (1985), Venus Williams (1997), Yanina Wickmayer (2009), Bianca Andreescu (2019) and Emma Raducanu (2021).
