Thirteenth seed Emma Navarro backed up her upset of defending champion Coco Gauff with another strong performance against Paula Badosa as she sailed into her first Grand Slam semi-final.
Emma Navarro gave the home crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium lots to cheer about as she clinched the best major result of her career with a 6-2, 7-5, win over Paula Badosa.
Playing in her second major quarter-final, the Navarro has beaten Coco Gauff in two consecutive fourth-round matches at Grand Slams.
With the defending champion’s serve collapsing in their fourth round defeat, an implosion that saw Gauff’s critics emerge, Navarro stayed cool in the big moments despite her fairly lacking Grand Slam pedigree.
This time, the 23-year-old won the last six games against Badosa from 5-1 down, with the 26th seed and former world number two overcome in just 72 minutes.
Paula Badosa explains shock second set loss to Emma Navarro
A frustrated figure after defeat, Badosa was expertly reeled in by this plucky new American.
“I never had the momentum in this match,” a defeated Badosa said. “I played four or five games okay. It was 5-1, but I never felt myself in the court. I didn’t feel serving well, playing well from the baseline. That’s my biggest strength.
“So I think today it surprised me because I was playing pretty good the other matches, I was feeling good. But when I walked into the court, I think I didn’t match well the situation or the emotions. It was a bit hard to handle for me. I wanted to win so much that sometimes that doesn’t help at all,” she assessed in her post-match US Open press conference.
Disappointed, the former world number two explained that this kind of comeback is something she’s not seen happen to her before.
“Everything. Everything,” Badosa responded when asked what went wrong. “This is the first time it happens to me in my career. I think losing a set from 5-1 up, I never did that before. So I think there is always a first time for something, so it had to come today unfortunately.
“I don’t know. I still need to think what happened, because I had two service games there also. I started to miss. I lost, I don’t know, 20 points almost in a row. It’s very weird for me because I’m quite a consistent player, so I wasn’t expecting that either. I’m quite disappointed,” she finished with a defeated look.
Paula Badosa should take away lots of positives from her US Open campaign
The former world number two had fallen way outside the top 100 after struggling with a persistent injury over the last two years.
When the dust has settled, Badosa must try and take away some positives. Matching her best run at a major in her career, the Spaniard also picked up the title in Washington in July.
Badosa revealed she was close to retiring from tennis completely, with the Spaniard sharing that doctors suggested she might never play again.
Despite her run to the quarter-finals being fairly routine, Badosa managed to save match points to progress to the last eight.
With boyfriend Stefanos Tsitsipas having stumbled at the US Open far earlier, at least Badosa will have the bragging rights over her other half.
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