Ice-cool Navarro ends Badosa’s New York run to reach US Open semi-finals
The American powered past Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 to reach the last four of the US Open for the first time. She will play either Zheng Qinwen or Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals
Emma Navarro, US Open, 2024 © Imago/Panoramic
Emma Navarro outperformed Paula Badosa in their highly-anticipated US Open quarter-final, defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career in front of a delighted home crowd in New York.
In a contest that featured two Manhattan-born players, the crowd’s allegiance was clear from the start and it played a big part in a resounding win for Navarro. Despite a second-set resurgence from Badosa that ended in an alarming collapse, it was the American’s calm demeanour and clarity of thought that was the stark difference between the pair.
In a nutshell, the American simply handled the occasion far better than her opponent. Playing on Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time in her career, Badosa frequently appeared overawed by the size of the arena and the match as she struggled to maintain any real form of consistent rhythm.
Navarro, on the other hand, already nicknamed ‘Ice Girl’ by her family, was coolness personified inside the cavernous surroundings that the US Open’s central show court inhabit. It didn’t hurt that she had already experienced the cacophonous atmosphere of Arthur Ashe for the first time in the previous round, nor that she had the backing of a typically vocal and partisan crowd.
Nevertheless, Navarro seemed better mentally equipped from the off, as she made a confident and blistering start to the biggest match of her career.
Having won the coin toss and elected to serve first, Navarro set the tone with an emphatic hold to love in the opening game before breaking Badosa at the first time of asking following a nerve-ridden service game from the Spaniard.
After falling 3-0 down, Badosa was able to steady herself into a more stable rhythm, holding twice before forcing two break points on her opponent’s serve in the seventh game.
Some breathtaking retrieval skills from the American quickly snuffed out the danger, however, with Navarro holding before reapplying the pressure in the next game as Badosa served to stay in the opening set.
Another loose and edgy service game from the world No 29 provided Navarro with all the incentive she needed to seal the opener at the first opportunity, clinching a second break on her third set point to move into a well-deserved one-set lead.
second-set surge from badosa proves short-lived, as navarro roars back for victory
But the arrival of a new set brought – temporarily at least – a marked shift in dynamics. Badosa took full advantage of a drop in level and intensity from the American at the start of the second, as she earned her first break of the match in the opening game.
Suddenly, it was the Spaniard who couldn’t miss, loading her powerful strokes with extra depth while maintaining remarkable accuracy, as Navarro increasingly grappled with her own level.
Badosa struck again in the fifth game with some superb hitting en route to a 5-1 lead. Yet this was where the resurgence ended. When serving for the set, the Spaniard’s form deserted her again. A loose service game at 5-2 allowed her opponent back in, with Navarro pouncing on a weak second serve on break point to reduce the deficit, before holding serve to love as part of a ten-point winning streak.
More pressure followed as a faltering Badosa threw in two untimely double-faults en route to being broken again when serving at 5-4. Another hold, and then a third break in succession for the irrepressible Navarro, who sealed the biggest win of her life with a beautifully timed drop-shot that left her opponent stranded.
“After I got it back to 5-2, I had a bit of an inkling that it might be two sets. I always say I can’t see the future but maybe today I could a little bit, I just felt like I might be able to win this in two sets,” Navarro revealed in her on-court interview.
“It means so much to me [to be in a Grand Slam semi-final]. My coach and I have been together since I was 14 or 15 so it’s been eight years now.
“We’ve done a lot of great work together. Thank you for everything you do, all your dedication and the time you put into this journey and making me into the player that I am.”
Navarro then also paid tribute to her father, who was instrumental in the American’s first forays into the world of tennis.
“I also want to thank my dad because he saw a vision from when I was really young. He knew maybe I was a little bit ADHD or something to be sat in a classroom or in a 9-5 and I think he saw something in me from a young age.
“Thanks Dad for sending me on this journey.”
us open semi-final the peak of a superb breakthrough season for navarro
There were striking parallels between the two players coming into this fascinating quarter-final. Both born in Manhattan, and appearing in their first US Open quarter-final, Navarro and Badosa were also each making their second Grand Slam last-eight appearance having never reached a semi-final before.
But they have had starkly contrasting roads up until this joint juncture, with Badosa facing the prospect of an early retirement earlier this year in the face of a chronic back injury, while Navarro has been making remarkably steady progress in a superb breakthrough season.
Having never been past the second round of a Grand Slam before this year, the American has reached the third round, fourth round, quarter-final and now semi-final of 2024’s four majors – a quite striking set of incrementally progressive results.
Now ranked No 12 in the world, Navarro is set to break into the top ten for the first time in her career – another indicator of her extraordinary rise to tennis’ top table.
Next up for Navarro could be a match-up with world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka, should she get past the increasingly dangerous Zheng Qinwen in their last-eight encounter.
Beating the Belarusian on hard courts at a major is one of the toughest tasks in women’s tennis right now. But Navarro would have the added impetus of having defeated Sabalenka in Indian Wells earlier this season.
Whomever she faces in the semi-finals on Thursday, Navarro will head into the biggest match of her life with a clear head, an unerring ability to stay calm under extreme pressure and the vociferous support of the New York crowd on her side.
She will take some stopping – and not just at this year’s US Open.
Win or lose in the next round, this is a player who has unexpectedly and unapologetically crashed the party of elite tennis throughout the course of this year.
Navarro is the ultimate WTA disruptor – and she is here to stay.
