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Indian Wells 2024: Navarro upsets Sabalenka to reach QFs

Arthur Kapetanakis | March 13, 2024

Less than a year after she first broke into the Top 100 of the WTA rankings, Emma Navarro has beaten a recent world No. 1 at the BNP Paribas Open.

 

The 22-year-old American, whose current ranking is one number higher than her age, knocked out two-time reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday for the biggest upset of her career. In a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory, Navarro's aggression handcuffed one of the WTA's most powerful players on the Indian Wells stadium court.

 

Her WTA Tour-leading 18th match win of the season saw her through to her fourth quarterfinal of the year and her first overall at the WTA 1000 level.

"It's always kind of interesting to see how I feel once I step on the court against opponents like Rybakina or Sabalenka," Navarro said in her post-match press conference, alluding to her Doha defeat to 2022 Wimbledon champ Elena Rybakina last month.

 

"They are just, I guess, more experienced than I am and have played on these stages more than I have.

 

"But I think that one of the things I love about playing is that I get to challenge myself every single week. So playing an opponent like that on that stage is the same challenge as improving my forehand or improving my backhand. It's one of the things that keeps me invested in playing, and it makes things interesting and pushes me to be a better player."

 

Navarro has played three Grand Slam singles champions this season (l. to Gauff in Auckland) and now has her first win of the year against an opponent of that elite caliber.

Emma Navarro shakes Aryna Sabalenka's hand after her Wednesday win in Indian Wells. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Against Sabalenka, Navarro won three straight games to claim the opening set but lost the second without creating a break point. In the deciding frame, she set the tone with a crucial service hold before breaking three times to secure her third consecutive three-set victory in Indian Wells.

 

"Third set I knew I had to serve better than I had been serving. I think I was able to do that," said the American, who fought off a break point to hold for 4-1. "Definitely that helped me to hold my service games and just gave me a confidence boost on return games too. Like, I know I can count on my serve when it comes back around.

 

"That was the only adjustment I made physically. Then just mentally I wanted to just really lock in and play aggressively and put a lot of pressure on her serve and, yeah, just return really aggressively."

 

Navarro will bid to back up her big win with another upset when she meets ninth seed Maria Sakkari in Thursday's quarterfinals. Beyond that, she could contest an all-American semifinal against third seed Coco Gauff, who cruised into the quarters with a 6-0, 6-2 result against 24th seed Elise Mertens on Wednesday.

 

Playing on her 20th birthday, Gauff converted on six of eight break points to ease through, matching her best Indian Wells result from last season.

Tommy Paul has advanced to the Indian Wells quarterfinals with three straight-sets wins. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
Paul beats Djokovic's conqueror

Tommy Paul maintained his perfect set record this fortnight in Indian Wells with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against lucky loser Luca Nardi on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Italian stunned Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Monday, but could not find a way past Paul's front-foot tennis.

 

“It was a cool matchup today. He played really well and we pushed each other early in the first set and then I started getting really comfortable coming to the net,” said the American, who won 15 of his 18 net approaches.

 

Through to his first Indian Wells quarterfinal, Paul will next meet Norway's Casper Ruud on Thursday. The 17th seed will be competing in his fourth ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal, with his best result at that level a semifinal showing last summer in Toronto.

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