Navarro reveals reason behind playing Hong Kong 125
“No. The points in Hong Kong actually didn’t even count towards the race to the Finals”
Imago / Panoramic
American Emma Navarro, the world No 8, has revealed her motivation behind playing at the Hong Kong 125 Open and it wasn’t to win a place in the 2024 WTA Finals.
The 2024 WTA Finals, beginning November 2 in Riyadh, will see eight women fight for glory. Pole Iga Swiatek and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka are the only two players qualified for the event with six more spots yet to be filled. Navarro finds herself in the lower limits of the Race, ranked one place above China’s Zheng Qinwen in eighth.
Being a Top 10 player, the American unsettled the tennis community by signing up for the WTA 125 level tournament in Hong Kong a few days ago following a shock exit from the China Open, with a loss to local hero Zhang Shuai in her opener.
Many speculated she wished to improve her chances of making the year-end championships line-up with the Hong Kong campaign that ended in quarter-finals. Navarro, however, cleared the air on her participation in the low-level event after setting foot in Wuhan for the final WTA 1000 tournament of the year.
No. The points in Hong Kong actually didn’t even count towards the race to the Finals.”
Emma Navarro
“It was more just I was going to have a week and a half of training after I lost in Beijing, which is a long time to just be training,” the 23-year-old said in a press conference in Wuhan. “I wanted to go and try to stay match-ready. Yeah, that was my reasoning for playing Hong Kong.”
The Race to the WTA Finals will cease a week before the Riyadh competition kicks off, thus, Navarro looks to make the most of her stay in Wuhan.
“I’m happy to be here, excited to be here,” she added. “I’d love to make a run. I’m looking forward to trying to make the WTA Finals at the end of the year. That’s kind of the goal for me right now. There’s just a few tournaments left. Going to try to make a final push towards the end of the season.”
Navarro’s title tally for 2024 stands at one
Navarro has entered the singles draw as seed No 6 and will get the ball rolling against Pole Magdalena Frech in the second round after having received a bye in the first.
“I’ve been here for a couple days now. Today is my second day of practice. Yeah, facilities are really nice. Courts are a little bit slower, I think. The balls, as well, are a little bit slower. They fluff up a good bit. But yeah, all in all good conditions.”
Navarro leads Frech, who overcame Japan’s Mai Hontama (6-0, 6-4) in the first round of Wuhan Open, 2-1 in the head-to-head.
The American has only won one title in 2024 thus far with her exploits at Hobart International in January. At the Grand Slams, her best result came in New York, where she made the semi-finals (lost to Aryna Sabalenka). She finished Wimbledon as a quarter-finalist, the French Open in fourth round, and the Australian Open in third.
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