Emma Navarro was dominant.
Paula Badosa was disastrous.
And in Tuesday’s battle of native New Yorkers, Navarro stormed back for a 6-2, 7-5 U.S. Open quarterfinal rout that came down to nerves.
Navarro kept hers. And Badosa was undone by hers.
“I felt like if I could scrap out a few longer points, put some pressure on her, I could come back and close it out in two sets. Happy with how I was able to do that,” said the Manhattan-born Navarro. “Even though she was up 5-1, 5-2 after that game, I felt like she wasn’t totally confident in her ability to close out that set.
“I felt like if I could push back a bit and make her think a little on her service game, I could sneak my way back in there. … Sometimes you’re out on the court and you can picture yourself playing a third set. When I was out there, I didn’t picture myself playing a third set. I felt like, yeah, I could come back and do it in two.”
Navarro did it in two, thanks partly to Badosa’s serve and baseline play deserting her in a shocking implosion.
It’s a collapse that Navarro saw coming — and helped happen.
“I’m very disappointed with my level. … She played really good and managed the situation really well, and I was a complete disaster,” Badosa said. “I didn’t match well the situation or the emotions. It was a bit hard to handle for me. I wanted to win so much that sometimes that doesn’t help at all. … Everything [was poor]. This is the first time it happens to me in my career, losing a set from 5-1 up.”
Badosa — who was born in Manhattan to Spanish parents and moved to Barcelona at age 7 — dropped the first set, but was leading 5-1 in the second and up 15-0 on Navarro’s serve. A third set seemed certain, until the Spaniard capitulated.
Navarro took the next four points to hold. Within 5-2 as she gained confidence, and sensed her foe’s nerves, Navarro broke on a forehand winner. She won 24 of the last 28 points to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal thanks to Badosa’s mental collapse.
“She’s a very complete player … and that’s very important when you go to a Slam to put your emotions on the side. That’s the thing that sometimes I don’t handle well,” admitted Badosa, galled at having wilted not because of the size of the stadium but the magnitude of the moment.
“It’s not the court. It was more the round for me, and seeing myself sometimes so close, so far but so close at the same time. Your mind is very tough to stay in the present. My mind was everywhere except in the present.”
Navarro was clearly mentally tougher.
The 23-year-old’s father Ben is a billionaire banker, and late grandfather Frank was football coach at Ivy League schools Princeton and Columbia. But she bristled at the suggestion her upbringing greased the skids of her success.
“I did have access to resources as a kid, but I don’t want that to take away from the fact that I’ve worked really, really hard to be where I’m at. I’ve put a ton of hours in, and I started training twice a day and getting in the gym from the time I was 8, 9-years-old. It’s been a ton of hard work and dedication.”
And it’s paid off with a breakout year.
Her first Major third round at Australia. Fourth round debut at the French. Maiden quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
Now, after beating defending champ Coco Gauff along the way, her first semi Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Zheng Qinwen, 6-1, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Badosa was left to stew over the way she folded.
“Performing the way I performed, I know if it wasn’t a Slam I’d perform well. So that’s why I’m [upset], because I didn’t know how to handle it the best way,” Badosa admitted. “Now I have to wait four months for the next Slam, so it sucks.”
Not for Navarro, it doesn’t.