Sports

Navarro Downs Kalinskaya to Set Up All-American US Open Quarterfinal Against Pegula

By WTA Staff

Emma Navarro has advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open, defeating Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday night, two years after reaching her only Grand Slam semifinal at the same tournament.

Both players held serve comfortably through the first nine games of the opening set. The first break-point chance arrived in the 10th game on Kalinskaya's serve, which Navarro converted to take the set 6-4. Riding that momentum, Navarro surged to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Kalinskaya, who had won both of the pair's previous meetings, managed to break back once, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome. Navarro broke again in the eighth game to seal a 6-4, 6-2 victory in one hour and 21 minutes.

"I know Anna can catch fire and get on a run, and I wanted to just try to break her rhythm as much as I could, and maybe she didn't play as consistently as she would like to," Navarro said afterward. "Just proud of my patience and ability to be putting balls in the court and keep asking her the questions."

Reflecting on a challenging year dealing with health issues, Navarro said she now feels renewed confidence in her game. "I'm feeling good mentally, like feeling resilient, feeling calm, feeling strong," she said. "So I think that's a huge part of the game, and yeah, certainly can't be overlooked. When I'm feeling good mentally, I think good things happen for me."

Several statistics stood out from the match. This marked Navarro's fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance, following previous runs at Wimbledon 2024, the US Open 2024 and the Australian Open 2025. Kalinskaya committed nine double faults and hit two aces, while Navarro had just one double fault and six aces. The win also extended Navarro's record to 24-2 in completed Grand Slam matches after winning the first set; her only two such losses came against Barbora Krejcikova at the 2025 US Open and Magda Linette at the 2026 Australian Open.

Kalinskaya finished with 32 unforced errors compared to Navarro's 10, though she outpaced Navarro in winners, 17 to 15. Navarro has now dropped 40 games on her way to this year's US Open quarterfinals, the most of any player in the tournament so far, and the second-most games conceded en route to a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open Era. The record remains her own 61 games conceded en route to the 2025 Australian Open quarterfinals.

Navarro will next face No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula in an all-American quarterfinal, ensuring at least one American man and one American woman reach the semifinals of this year's tournament. It will be the first all-American women's singles quarterfinal at the US Open since Serena Williams beat Venus Williams in 2015.

Pegula currently leads the head-to-head series against Navarro 4-0, including a win in the round of 32 in Cincinnati last month. "Jess is really tough," Navarro said. "She probably hits the flattest ball on tour, keeps it low, can hit it short and flat or deep and it looks the same. Just a really great ball striker and super consistent from the baseline. I think I'll have to match that and try to get her out of her rhythm a little bit. I have lost to her a few times now, but there's always that time when you get over the hump and get the win, so hopefully that will be in a couple of days."