WTA
New York
In front of her home crowd at the USOpen, No.13 seed Emma Navarro booked her place in the first Grand Slam semi-final of her career, coming from 5-1 down in the second set against No.26 Paula Badosa for a 6-2, 7-5 win.
The result guarantees Navarro, 23, a Top 10 debut next week.
Both players were previous major quarter-finalists seeking to break new ground. Badosa had taken over three years to return to this stage following her first run to the last eight of a Slam at Roland Garros 2021. By contrast, Navarro backed up her major quarter-final debut at Wimbledon this year by immediately repeating the feat at Flushing Meadows.
Navarro played a cool, clean first set to dominate an edgy Badosa, who contributed 16 unforced errors in it. The Spaniard lost her opening service game with consecutive double faults, and committed two in a row again in the final game of the set.
Badosa rebounded in the second set, storming out to a 5-1 lead as her backhand began to find its mark. But a solid hold for Navarro in the next game was the start of a plot twist -- one that few in Arthur Ashe saw coming, except Navarro herself.
“After I got it back to 5-2, I had a little bit of inkling that it might be two sets,” she said in her on-court interview. “I just wanted to stay really tough and stick in there. I can’t see the future, but maybe today I could a little bit!”
The final stretch of the match went by in a flash. Navarro rediscovered the all-court variety of the first set, breaking Badosa for 5-3 with a return winner then deploying slices, volleys and angles to destabilize her game. In response, Badosa’s level plummeted again. Serving at 5-4, she struck another pair of consecutive double faults; serving at 5-6, she shanked a forehand into the ground before the net to open the game.
Navarro will next meet either No.2 seed Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka or No.7 seed Zheng Qinwen of China.
