Navarro on semi-final run: “I was looking to win one match at the US Open”

Emma Navarro lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the US Open semi-finals on Thursday, but she was able to see the positive side of her best-ever Grand Slam result.

Emma Navarro – US Open 2024 © Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic

Ricky Dimon

September 6, 2024

Emma Navarro’s 2024 US Open run came to an end with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) loss to Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals on Thursday night.

Nonetheless, it was the 23-year-old’s best-ever Grand Slam result, and it included a fourth-round upset of defending champion Coco Gauff. Previously this season Navarro reached the third round of the Australian Open, the fourth round of the French Open and the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

Such positive progression will have Navarro in the top 10 on Monday. The American is currently at a career-high of No 12 and will climb to No 8.

to be leaving having made a run and gotten to the semi-finals, and now I’m a top-10 player. It’s pretty crazy.
Emma Navarro

As well as Navarro has played this season, she did not arrive in New York with a ton of confidence. Following Wimbledon, disappointing results included a third-round exit from the Paris Olympics, a first-round loss in Cincinnati and a semi-final upset in Monterrey at the hands of Linda Noskova.

“It’s crazy to have come into this tournament a week and a half, almost two weeks ago, and I was kind of joking a little bit with my team — but a little bit serious, as well –that I was looking to win one match at the US Open. And now to be leaving having made a run and gotten to the semifinals, and now I’m a top-10 player, it’s pretty crazy. I think it’s a testament to a lot of hard work.

“(I’m) definitely leaving with a lot of positives.”