US Open: Navarro dethrones Gauff, Sabalenka enters 4th straight QF
New York: Emma Navarro advanced to her first US Open quarterfinal after the 23-year-old American defeated Gauff in a straight-sets, fourth-round match.
After a convincing upset of Gauff earlier at Wimbledon, this was the second time in a row at a major, that Navarro beat her countrywoman.
The No.13-seeded Navarro backed up that breakthrough with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win to advance to her second straight major quarterfinal. That ended No.3 Gauff’s title defense and a muscular 11-match winning streak in New York.
Navarro has three wins over Top 10 opponents in 2024—Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells and Gauff at Wimbledon and now the US Open.
Navarro, 23, will play the resurgent Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No. 26 seed, in the quarterfinal. Badosa defeated world No. 80 Wang Yafan, 6-1, 6-2 and become the fourth Spanish woman to reach the final eight at the US Open in the Open Era, joining Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Conchita Martinez, and Carla Suarez Navarro.
In other major action, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka slammed 41 winners to power her way past No. 33 seed Elise Mertens, 6-2, 6-4, in 97 minutes to advance to the US Open quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year.
Playing in her seventh career US Open, Sabalenka improved her record at Flushing Meadows to 25-6. She will take on the winner of the Paris Olympics final rematch between No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen of China and No. 24 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia in the quarterfinals.
Sabalenka became the first player to advance to four straight US Open quarterfinals since Serena Williams reached the quarterfinals six consecutive years from 2011 through 2016. She is attempting to become the first female player to win the Australian Open and US Open in the same year since Germany’s Angelique Kerber accomplished the feat in 2016.