American rising star Emma Navarro is over the moon after her famous win on Wednesday. She defeated World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round of the ongoing Indian Wells, in a stunning display of a three-set match. Her third set win was also responsible for creating a record that Navarro can be proud of.
During an interview with the Tennis Channel, they asked Navarro about the feat.
“They have thrown some pretty impressive stats up on the board for 24 already – picked up your first title, 18 match wins, but that one that really stands out for me is 11-2 in 3-set matches. I mean when things are on the line, you come to play. Is there sort of a different mentality you check into in those third sets?” asked one of the two interviewers on the Tennis Channel.
The interviewer focused on how Navarro barely loses once the match goes into the third set. 11 wins and only 2 losses in the final set, shows the kind of strong mentality a player needs to have to win at any cost. It is pretty akin to Daniil Medvedev among men’s players, who often turns it on in the fifth and final set, and seldom loses from there. This sort of gameplay often demands the usage of the phrase ‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man’, or in this case ‘woman’.
Emma Navarro answered, “Well it’s a pretty crazy stat, I played 13 (laughs) third sets already this year. But, yeah, I kinda, I love the grind, I love to go the distance, I love to just test myself in those tough moments, I love a good challenge. So yeah, when the chips are down, I like to see, see just how much, how aggressive I can play and how much I can push myself. So yeah, I love 3 sets.”
The interviewer couldn’t stop praising Navarro for that, also calling it a “testament to her fitness”. In that, they aren’t wrong, since Navarro beat Lesia Tsurenko, Elina Svitolina, and Aryna Sabalenka, all in three sets. Every tough opponent she faced, Navarro wasn’t afraid to take the game deep into the last round and battle it out to win.
Her answer also has an air of confidence that hints at a subtle warning to all her upcoming opponents. Nerves play a big part when the entire game hangs in the final set. Emma Navarro always overcomes those situations with confidence. Something her opponents must be very mindful of in the future.
How did Emma Navarro beat Aryna Sabalenka?
Before Emma Navarro’s match against Sabalenka, most predictionists wrote the young American player off. Not because she didn’t have a great run, but since Sabalenka was coming off a Grand Slam win i.e. Australian Open and she is currently the second best female player out there. Therefore, when Navarro beat her 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, it was a major upset. Navarro won over her home crowd and qualified for the quarter-final. She is now a favorite to win the tournament.
She entered the tournament as a 23rd seeded player, and now Navarro will be playing her quarter-final match against Maria Sakkari, who is the 9th seed. The match will take place on Thursday, March 14 at around 6:00 pm ET. They will play on the outdoor hard courts of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, and it will be broadcast on the Tennis Channel in the US and Sky Sports in the UK.
