No. 13 seed and American Emma Navarro continued her impressive run at the U.S. Open with a dominant performance against No. 26 Paula Badosa from Spain in the women’s quarterfinals at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sept. 3.
Navarro stayed in control throughout the match and advanced to the semifinals with a 6–2, 7–5 victory. It’s the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career.
Navarro was buoyed by the pro-American crowd that included nine-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Katie Ledecky, tennis great Serena Williams, and 16-time Grammy-award-winning singer Alicia Keys.
“It’s crazy ... onto the semifinals. U.S. Open, baby,” Navarro said in a television interview after the match.
Navarro got off to a quick start and kept Badosa under pressure with her powerful forehand. Badosa did not help her cause with a couple of double faults in the opening game. Badosa then began to play better and start to serve the ball with more confidence.
Nonetheless, Navarro stayed focused, and Badosa still had trouble with her serve with five double faults in the opening set. Navarro closed out the first set with a drop shot that left Badosa off-balance with no chance to return the ball.
Badossa started the second set strongly, winning the first two games and sometimes pumping her fist after earning a point. Navarro appeared out of sync in the second set with four unforced errors in her opening service game.
However, Navarro managed to bounce back from a 5–1 deficit and tied the game 5–5, helped by eight consecutive points. With the crowd on her side, Navarro closed out the match with a drop shot that left Badosa flat-footed.
Navarro carried the momentum heading into the match against Badosa after upsetting fellow American and defending U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff’s 6–3, 4–6, 6–3 on Sept. 2. Navarro won 66 percent of her points on the second serve, and Gauff had 19 double faults.
Navarro, 23, and Gauff were teammates for the U.S. Olympic team in Paris this summer.
It was also the second high-profile match between Navarro and Gauff this summer. In July, Navarro also eliminated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon, 6–4, 6–3.
Before this year, Navarro had never been past the first round at the U.S. Open, going 0–2 in her previous matches. Navarro played college tennis at the University of Virginia and won an NCAA singles championship as a freshman in 2021.
Badosa, who was born in New York before her parents moved to Barcelona, was one of tennis’s rising stars—rising as high as No. 2 in the world—before a back injury in 2023 forced her to withdraw from several major tournaments after Wimbledon. She is still dealing with some discomfort but she has gotten into a rhythm over the past couple of weeks, surging into the quarterfinals—the best performance at the U.S. Open.
