NEW YORK (AP) — Emma Navarro’s first career Grand Slam semifinal will come at the U.S. Open against Aryna Sabalenka, who is trying to win her second major title of the year and her third overall.
Navarro, an American seeded 13th, used a stunning turnaround to win the last six games of her quarterfinal against Paula Badosa for a 6-2, 7-5 victory at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday, continuing her Surprise against defending champion Coco Gauff.
“Sometimes you’re on the court and you can imagine playing a third set. When I was out there, I didn’t imagine playing a third set,” Navarro said, despite trailing 5-1 in the second set. “I felt like … I could come back and make it in two sets.”
Surely.
There was no such drama in Sabalenka’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen, the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics last month. It was a rematch of the Australian Open final in January, when Sabalenka defeated Zheng at Melbourne Park to win her second consecutive title.
With Roger Federer in the standsSabalenka, competing in the US Open for the first time since her retirement, put in a typically powerful performance to reach the semifinals in New York for the fourth year in a row, finishing second behind Gauff in 2023.
When asked how she would get some of the thousands of fans to support her in her match against American Navarro, 26-year-old Sabalenka from Belarus joked: “The drinks are on me!”
She is trying to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win the major hard court titles at the Australian Open and the US Open.
The opponents in the other women’s semifinal will be decided on Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek plays No. 6 Jessica Pegula and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia faces unseeded Karolina Muchova.
In the men’s quarter-finals on TuesdayNo. 12 Taylor Fritz of the USA secured his first place in the last four of a major by defeating 2020 US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Fritz had a 0-4 record in Grand Slam quarterfinals, but he finally made his breakthrough against Zverev, the number 4 seed. in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I’ve seen a lot of quarterfinals in recent years, but today was just different,” said Fritz. “I really felt like it was time to take a step further.”
Frances Tiafoe had a chance to give the U.S. a third semifinalist when he faced No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday night. If he wins, No. 20 seed Tiafoe would play No. 12 seed Fritz in Friday’s semifinals.
“It could get crazy, so we’ll see what happens,” Fritz said, “but either way I’m ready.”
Navarro should have been three points ahead of Badosa and would have taken a third set, but she won the next four points to stay in the match, starting a streak in which she scored 24 of the match’s final 28 points.
“It wasn’t looking so good in the second set, but I just tried to be really tough, hang in there and make her hit one more ball,” Navarro said. “I felt like if I could get some longer points and maybe put some pressure on her, I could come back and maybe finish it in two sets. I’m happy with how I was able to do that.”
Navarro had never won a match in the main draw of her home major before this year.
Badosa described herself as a “disaster” as she struggled with the pressure of reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal.
“I never had the momentum in that game. I played four or five games, OK. It was 5-1, but I never felt like myself on the court,” Badosa said. “I lost, I don’t know, almost 20 points in a row. That’s very strange for me because I’m a pretty consistent player, so I didn’t expect that either.”
Navarro also defeated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon before losing in the next round to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour.
But the 2021 NCAA singles champion for Virginia was ready for this duel between the New York natives. She prevailed against Badosa, winning the first three games and then taking advantage of the opportunity Badosa offered her late.
Navarro is the sixth player in the last 40 years to reach the semifinals of the US Open without first winning the tournament’s main draw, joining recent champions Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and Emma Raducanu in 2021.
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