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Emma Navarro of the United States returns a shot against Paula Badosa of Spain during the women’s singles quarterfinal match on day nine of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 3, 2024. Photo credit: Getty Images via AFP.
Emma Navarro’s first Grand Slam semifinal will come at the US Open against Aryna Sabalenka, who is trying to win her second major trophy of the year and third overall.
American Navarro, seeded 13th, won the final six games of her quarterfinal match against Paula Badosa for a 6-2, 7-5 win at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday. Defeated defending champion Coco Gauff,
“Sometimes you’re on the court and you can see yourself playing a third set. When I was out there, I didn’t see myself playing a third set,” Navarro said, despite falling behind 5-1 in the second set. “I felt … I could come back and win it in two.”
sure did.
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, which was a repeat of Sabalenka’s victory in the Australian Open final.
Alongside Roger Federer, who was participating in the US Open for the first time since his retirement, Sabalenka produced a powerful performance to reach the semifinals in New York for the fourth consecutive year. In 2023, she was runner-up to Gauff.
Sabalenka said she saw Federer in the crowd and thought he was there to watch the match between Frances Tiafoe and Grigor Dimitrov.
“But still, I thought, well, I have to play my best tennis so she can enjoy it. I have to show my skills, you know, slice skills, coming to the net and all that,” Sabalenka, 26, of Belarus, known more for her power, said with a laugh.
She is trying to become the first woman to win hard-court majors at the Australian Open and US Open since Angelique Kerber in 2016. Sabalenka beat Zheng for her second consecutive title at Melbourne Park in January.
“I think next time I play against her I should probably hold the rallies better and play a bit more relaxed,” Zheng said. “Because today I definitely went into the match with a lot more nerves.”
The opponents in the other women’s semifinals will be decided on Wednesday, when No. 1 Iga Swiatek faces No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia takes on unseeded Karolina Muchova.
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