Emma Navarro reacts after defeating Paula Badosa, of Spain, during their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open tennis championship, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in New York.
Pamela Smith/AP
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Pamela Smith/AP
NEW YORK — Emma Navarro’s first Grand Slam semifinal will be at the US Open against Aryna Sabalenka, who is trying to win her second major title of the year and third overall.
Navarro, a 13th-seeded American, came from behind to win the last six sets of her quarter-final against Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday, following a surprise win over defending champion Coco Gauff.
“Sometimes you go out there and you can see yourself playing a third set. When I went out there, I didn’t see myself playing a third set,” Navarro said, despite trailing 5-1 in the second set. “I felt like … I could come back and do it in two sets.”
Sure.
There was no such drama in No. 2 Sabalenka’s 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics last month, in a rematch of Sabalenka’s victory in the Australian Open final.
With Roger Federer in the stands, Sabalenka, playing at the US Open for the first time since retiring, put in a typically strong performance to reach the semi-finals in New York for the fourth year in a row. In 2023, she was runner-up to Gauff.
Sabalenka said she saw Federer in the crowd and thought he was there to watch Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov play in the match after her match.
“But still, I thought, okay, I have to play my best tennis for him to like me. I have to show my skills, you know, my chopping skills, my net skills and all that,” said Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus who is better known for her power.
She is trying to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win major hard-court titles at the Australian Open and US Open. Sabalenka beat Zheng in January to win her second straight title at Melbourne Park.
“I just think next time I play her, maybe I should have a better rally and play a little more relaxed,” Zheng said. “Because today I obviously came into the match with a lot of nerves.”
The remaining women’s semifinal opponents will be decided on Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek plays No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia plays unseeded Karolina Muchova.
In the men’s quarterfinals on Tuesday, world No. 12 Taylor Fritz of the United States booked his first major semifinal berth by defeating 2020 US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Fritz had an 0-4 record in Grand Slam quarterfinals but eventually overcame Zverev, the fourth seed he also beat in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I’ve watched a lot of quarter-finals over the last few years and today felt different,” Fritz said. “I really felt like it was time for me to go further.”
Tiafoe gave the Americans a third semifinal when Grigor Dimitrov retired injured in the fourth set. Tiafoe leads 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 4-1 and will play 12th seed Fritz in the semifinals on Friday, securing the United States a men’s final at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2006.
Navarro was just three points away from a third set against Badosa but won the next four points to hold on for the win, kicking off a run that saw her win 24 of the final 28 points of the match.
“Things didn’t look good in the second set, but I just tried to be really strong, hang in there, make her hit one more ball,” Navarro said. “I felt like if I could get a couple of longer points, maybe put pressure on her, I felt like I could come back and maybe close it out in two sets. I was happy with how I was able to do that.”
Navarro had never even won a match in the main draw of his home major tournament before this year.
Badosa described himself as a “disaster” as he faced the pressure of trying to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final.
“I never had any momentum in that match. I played four or five good games. It was 5-1, but I never felt like I was on the court,” Badosa said. “I lost, I don’t know, 20 points almost in a row. It was weird for me because I’m a pretty consistent player, so I didn’t expect that.”
Navarro also beat Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon before losing to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the next round 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour.
But the 2021 NCAA singles champion for Virginia was ready for this matchup between the New York natives, attacking Badosa to win the first three sets, then seizing the opportunity Badosa gave her at the last minute.
Navarro became the sixth player in the past 40 years to reach the US Open semifinals without a previous win in the main draw of the tournament, a list that includes recent champions Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and Emma Raducanu in 2021.
