In the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Flushing Meadows, Navarro staged a remarkable comeback against Paula Badosa. After trailing in the second set, she reeled off six consecutive games to secure a 6-2, 7-5 victory.This impressive win followed her earlier upset of the defending champion, Coco Gauff.
“Sometimes you’re out in the court, and you can kind of picture yourself playing a third set. When I was out there, I didn’t picture myself playing a third set,” Navarro said, as quoted by AP. “I felt like … I could come back and do it in two.”
Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, secured a straightforward 6-1, 6-2 victory against No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, who recently claimed the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. The match was a repeat of the Australian Open final earlier this year, where Sabalenka triumphed over Zheng to clinch her second straight title in Melbourne.
With tennis legend Roger Federer watching from the stands, making his first appearance at the US Open since retiring, Sabalenka showcased her signature powerful game to reach the semifinals in New York for the fourth consecutive year. Last year, she finished as the runner-up to Gauff.
When asked how she plans to win over some of the thousands of fans to support her against the American Navarro, the 26-year-old Belarusian playfully remarked, “Drinks on me!”
Sabalenka is aiming to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to capture both the Australian Open and US Open hard-court major titles in the same year.
The remaining semifinal matchups will be determined on Wednesday, with No. 1 Iga Swiatek facing No. 6 Jessica Pegula, and No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia taking on unseeded Karolina Muchova.
Taylor Fritz, the 12th-seeded American, achieved a significant milestone on Tuesday by securing his maiden semifinal appearance at a Grand Slam tournament. In the men’s quarterfinals, Fritz overcame Alexander Zverev, the 2020 US Open runner-up and fourth seed, with a hard-fought 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory.
Prior to this breakthrough, Fritz had struggled in Grand Slam quarterfinals, having lost all four of his previous encounters at this stage. However, he managed to turn the tables on Zverev, whom he had also defeated in the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this year.
“I’ve had a lot of looks at quarterfinals over the last couple of years and today just felt different,” Fritz said. “I really felt like it was my time to take it a step further.”
Frances Tiafoe faced a crucial match against No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday night, with the chance to secure a third semifinal spot for the United States. A victory for the No. 20 seed would set up an all-American clash with the 12th-seeded Taylor Fritz in the semifinals on Friday.
“That could be crazy, so I guess we’ll see what happens,” Fritz said, “but either way I’ll be ready to go.”
Navarro found herself in a precarious position, just three points away from being forced into a decisive third set against Badosa. However, she showcased her resilience and determination by winning the next four points, effectively keeping her hopes alive in the match.
This marked the beginning of a remarkable turnaround, as Navarro went on to dominate the remainder of the contest, securing an impressive 24 out of the last 28 points played.
“Things weren’t looking great there in the second set, but just tried to be really tough, stick in there, make her hit one more ball,” Navarro said. “I felt like if I could scrap out a few longer points, maybe put some pressure on her, I felt like I could come back and maybe close it out in two sets. Happy with how I was able to do that.”
Navarro’s performance at her home major this year was unprecedented, as she had never previously secured a victory in the main draw.
Badosa openly admitted to struggling with the immense pressure that accompanied her pursuit of reaching the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam for the first time, candidly referring to herself as a “disaster” during this challenging period.
“I never had the momentum in this match. I played four or five games OK. It was 5-1, but I never felt myself on the court,” Badosa said. “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.”
Navarro, who previously defeated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon, suffered a swift 6-2, 6-1 loss to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini in the following round, with the match concluding in under 60 minutes.
However, the Virginia alumna, who clinched the 2021 NCAA singles title, came prepared for this encounter between two New Yorkers. She quickly gained the upper hand, securing the first three games and capitalizing on an opportunity presented by Badosa in the latter stages of the match.
With this victory, Navarro joined an exclusive group of five other players in the past four decades who have reached the US Open semifinals without a prior main-draw win in the tournament. This list features recent champions such as Bianca Andreescu, who achieved the feat in 2019, and Emma Raducanu, who accomplished the same in 2021.