Emma Navarro Advances to US Open Semifinals

NEW YORK – Virginia women’s tennis alumna Emma Navarro advanced to the semifinals at the 2024 US Open, being held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.

Navarro is just the second former collegiate tennis player since 1990 to reach the U.S. Open semifinals, joining Jennifer Brady. This is Navarro’s first time advancing to the semifinals at a Grand Slam.

She fell 6-3, 7-6 (2) to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka  on Thursday (Sept. 5) in the semifinals.

Navarro began the tournament with his first-ever victory at the Open, defeating Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-1. Another 6-1, 6-1 one-hour victory against Arantxa Rus in the second round and a three-set win against No. 19 Marta Kostyuk set up an all-American showdown with No. 3 Coco Gauff.

In her first match played in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Navarro defeated Gauff 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to become the first NCAA Singles champion to advance to the quarterfinals of the US Open. On Tuesday (Sept. 3), she defeated No. 26 Paula Badosa of Spain 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals. In the match against Badosa, Navarro trailed 5-1 in the second set, winning six straight games to take the victory. She won 24 of the final 28 points of that match.

This is Navarro’s second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal after defeating then No. 2 Gauff on Wimbledon Centre Court. Navarro is the youngest American player to make the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and the US Open in a year since Serena Williams in 2004.

Navarro is the second Cavalier to advance to the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament, joining Danielle Collins who was the runner-up in singles at the 2022 Australian Open after being a semifinalist there in 2019. Collins also made the doubles semifinals of Wimbledon in 2022.

Navarro played two seasons at Virginia (2021-22), winning the NCAA Singles title as a freshman in 2021. The four-time ITA All-American amassed a 51-3 record in singles and a 33-17 mark in doubles before going pro after her sophomore season. Navarro ended the 2023 season on the WTA tour strong, making the semifinals of the WTA 500 event in San Diego in September and winning the LTA 100K in Charleston in November.  She started 2024 by picking up her first WTA title at the Hobart International, topping Elise Mertens in the final. In back-to-back stellar performances at WTA 1000-level events, she defeated Aryna Sabalenka to advance to the quarterfinals in Indian Wells before making the Round of 16 at the Miami Open. She has had a meteoric rise through the world rankings, cracking the top 200 in March of 2022 and making the top 100 in May of 2023 before reaching a No. 32 ranking before the end of the year. After advancing to the Round of 16 this year at Roland-Garros, she has moved up to a No. 17 world ranking.