By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, September 3, 2024

 

Emma Navarro came "ready to rock" and rolled into her maiden major semifinal sweeping six straight games to stop Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 at the US Open.

Photo credit: Sarah Stier/Getty

NEW YORK—Typically, premonition isn’t part of Emma Navarro’s problem-solving process on court.

Down 1-5 in the second set today, Navarro turned intuition into an inspired comeback.

More: Gauff on Serving Collapse

Bouncing on Arthur Ashe stadium “ready to rock”, Navarro reeled off six straight games rolling into her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-2, 7-5 sweep of a stressed Paula Badosa at the US Open.



Three points from playing a third set, Navarro played a hunch after she held for 2-5.

Driven by that self-belief, Navarro tore through 22 of the last 24 points to land in her first major final four, crack the Top 10 for the first time in her career and fulfill that comeback feeling she had.

“After I got it back to 5-2 I kind of had a little bit of an inkling it might be two sets,” Navarro told Rennae Stubbs in her post-match interview. “I just wanted to stay tough…I wish I can’t see into the future. Maybe today I could a little bit. I just felt today I might be able to get through in two sets.”

Born on Manhattan’s Upper East Side before her family moved to Charleston, South Carolina when she was a kid, Navarro is now right where she wants to be: One win from the US Open final.

“I’m just really happy with my performance today,” Navarro said. “Crazy to be moving onto the semifinals, US Open baby!”



In a rare US Open quarterfinal clash of Manhattan natives—Badosa was born in New York City to Spanish model parents and lived in Manhattan until she was about 5 years old—Navarro managed the percolating pressure with more composure.

Badosa showed why she’s a former Indian Wells champion building that 5-1 second-set lead only to collapse amid spiking nerves and Navarro’s finishing forehands.

"I think losing a set from 5-1 up, I never did that before," Badosa said. "So I think there is always a first time for something, so it had to come today unfortunately.

"I don't know. I still need to think what happened, because I had two service games there also. I started to miss. I lost, I don't know, 20 points almost in a row. It's very weird for me because I'm quite a consistent player, so I wasn't expecting that either. So I'm quite disappointed."

The 23-year-old Navarro, who was ranked No. 143 at the end of the 2022 season, charged through the first three games and final five games of this quarterfinal deftly carving out a forehand drop shot to close in 72 minutes.

The Wimbledon quarterfinalist Navarro will play either Australian Open and Cincinnati champion Aryna Sabalenka or Olympic gold-medal champion Zheng Qinwen for a spot in Saturday afternoon’s US Open finals.

Avid fans will remember Navarro and Zheng had a contentious clash at the Paris Olympic Games with the American calling out the Chinese afterward suggesting gamesmanship on the Australian Open finalist’s part.




Navarro has split two meetings with Sabalenka, including upsetting the Belarusian 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 at Indian Wells last March. The seventh-rankeds Zheng is 2-0 against Navarro.

“I played both of them a couple of times,” Navarro said. “I think they’re great players. But I’ll be up for the challenge of either of them.”

Wearing Dove sponsor logo patch on her Fila top, Navarro played cleaner tennis throughout. Badosa committed 35 unforced errors—20 more than her American opponent. Navarro played with more clarity on key points: She converted five of six break points, won all five trips to net and dropped just seven points on second serve.

Competing with calm aggression in today’s first quarterfinal, Navarro blitzed Badosa, who looked a little over-awed in her Ashe debut, racing out to a 3-0 lead after just eight minutes.

Badosa zipped an ace down the T holding at 30 for 2-4 after 20 minutes of play.

The pair went toe-to-toe in a 22-shot rally—the longest of the set—as Badosa gained break point in the seventh game.

Whipping a sharp-angled forehand, Navarro wiped away a second break point. The American’s all-court versatility helped her navigate a six-minute hold. Navarro pulled the string on a floating forehand drop shot winner, stretching to 5-2.

Navarro is a smooth mover and was covering the court with more command.

Darting right, Navarro rapped a running forehand pass that froze the Spaniard—and recalled the young Steffi Graf—for triple set point.

On the third set point, a jittery Badosa flicked a drop shot wide ending a 29-minute opener with her 16th error.

Dethroning defending champion Coco Gauff in a three-set win on Ashe on Sunday gave Navarro a greater sense of calm throughout the first set whereas the former world No. 2 Badosa seemed spooked by the size of the cavernous stadium, expansive sightlines and the massive moment.

The 26th-seeded Spaniard settled in and exploited a rash of Navarro errors breaking to start the second set.

Badosa began pounding her forehand with more menace and pace forcing Navarro into some sliding stretched defensive forehand misses. Badosa picked on that forehand side backing up the break for 2-0.

The emotional tenor shifted as Badosa banged a backhand winner down the line fist-pumping with a firm “Vamos!” as she held for 3-1.

Dialing up the emotional intensity—and the sting on her shots—Badosa banged out another break then hammered a crosscourt forehand holding with a shout for 5-1.

Fifty-five minutes into the match Badosa flipped the script imposing her power over Navarro’s all-court versatility.

Just when Badosa seemed certain to force a third, she got a bit tight and tentative and Navarro pounced.

The Hobart champion tore through 12 of 14 points breaking back and knifing a sharp volley to hold at love for 4-5.

Rhythmic clapping from fans prompted Badosa to pause before serving for the set again.

Nerves constricted Badosa’s right arm as she spit up a pair of double faults to fall into a triple break point hole. Badosa sprayed a backhand and suddenly Navarro, from 1-5 down, was even at 5-all.

"She's a very complete player, first of all, and that's very important when you go to a slam to put your emotions on the side," Badosa said of Navarro. "That's maybe the thing that sometimes I don't handle pretty well.

"She does that really well. Then she's very talented. Very good backhand and very good forehand. She has variety in her game, so that's really important, and she's a great player. So congrats to her."

Casting a nervous glance toward her box, Badosa couldn’t clear the net as her free-fall continues. Navarro sped through 10 points in a row going up 6-5 and love-30 on the Spaniard’s serve.

Drawing a netted running forehand, Navarro earned match point.

Engaging the Spaniard in a lateral rally, Navarro flicked a finishing forehand drop shot to continue this rousing New York homecoming.