NEW YORK — Emma Navarro rode a shocking turnaround proper into her first Grand Slam semifinal, beating Paula Badosa 6-2, 7-5 on the US Open on Tuesday to observe up her upset of defending champion Coco Gauff.
Trailing 5-1 within the second set and three factors from having to go to a deciding third, Navarro received the subsequent 4 factors to remain alive, beginning a stretch through which she captured 24 of the ultimate 28 factors of the match.
“I feel issues weren’t trying nice there within the second set, however simply tried to be actually robust, stick in there, make her hit another ball,” Navarro stated. “I felt like if I might scrap out a couple of longer factors, possibly put some stress on her, I felt like I might come again and possibly shut it out in two units.
“Pleased with how I used to be ready to try this.”
Navarro, the No. 13-seeded American who had by no means even received a match in the primary draw of her house main earlier than this yr, will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday’s semis.
The 23-year-old Navarro, who ousted the No. 3-seeded Gauff on Sunday within the fourth spherical, ran by the primary set in 29 minutes earlier than the No. 26-seeded Badosa opened a 5-1 lead within the second.
However when Navarro broke the Spaniard within the subsequent recreation, the participant who leads the WTA Tour with 18 wins in three units had a sense she won’t must play a 3rd.
“I felt like, regardless that she was up 5-1, 5-2 after that recreation, I felt like she wasn’t completely assured in her capability to shut out that set,” Navarro stated. “So I felt like if I might push again a bit bit and make her suppose a bit bit on her service recreation, possibly I might sneak my manner again in there.”
She did, taking six straight video games with some assist from Badosa, who stated she was a “catastrophe” whereas coping with the stress of attempting to achieve her first Grand Slam semifinal.
“I by no means had the momentum on this match. I performed 4 or 5 video games OK. It was 5-1, however I by no means felt myself on the court docket,” Badosa stated.
“I misplaced, I do not know, 20 factors virtually in a row. It is very bizarre for me as a result of I am fairly a constant participant, so I wasn’t anticipating that both.”
Navarro additionally beat Gauff within the fourth spherical at Wimbledon earlier than dropping to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini within the subsequent spherical, a 6-2, 6-1 rout in lower than an hour.
However the 2021 NCAA singles champion at Virginia was prepared for this matchup between New York natives, leaping on Badosa to win the primary three video games, then seizing the opening Badosa gave her late.
Navarro turned the sixth participant within the final 40 years to achieve the US Open semis with no earlier main-draw victory within the event, a listing that features current champions Bianca Andreescu in 2019 and Emma Raducanu in 2021.
It has been a profession yr for Navarro, who reached the third spherical or higher in any respect 4 Grand Slams after by no means having superior past the second spherical of a significant.
She is the third former girls’s faculty participant previously 40 years to make the semifinals at Flushing Meadows, following Oklahoma State’s Lori McNeil in 1987 and UCLA’s Jennifer Brady in 2020.
Her victory ended a formidable summer season season by Badosa, who entered Tuesday having received 24 of her previous 30 matches since Could’s event in Rome, highlighted by a WTA 500 title in Washington and a semifinal look in Cincinnati earlier than her run in New York.
ESPN Stats & Info and The Related Press contributed to this report.