Emma Navarro stuns Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka as she pays humble tribute to her grandmother’s viewership, yet again

Emma Navarro also defeated Lesia Tsurenko and Elina Svitolina in her previous rounds in the Indian Wells.

Emma Navarro stuns Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka as she pays humble tribute to her grandmother’s viewership, yet again

Emma Navarro (Source: IMAGO)

To everyone’s surprise, American youngster Emma Navarro has done the unthinkable as she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16 of the 2024 Indian Wells in three sets. Navarro has been in great form in the tournament so far and has already defeated three elite players, namely Lesia Tsurenko, Elina Svitolina and now Sabalenka. She is now undoubtedly the dark horse of the WTA in the 2024 Indian Wells.

She dominated the Belarusian from the very beginning of the match and won the first set with ease. Aryna Sabalenka made a comeback in the second set but the 22-year-old made no mistake after that.

Emma Navarro held her composure and went for the final kill in the third set, beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. This was hands down one of the most unexpected results in the tournament so far, after Novak Djokovic’s defeat against Luca Nardi.

FS Video

After her victory against Elina Svitolina in the round of 32 of the 2024 Indian Wells, Emma Navarro gave a very special shoutout to her 92-year-old grandmother, who was apparently awake to see her match that continued late.

“I have to give a special shout out to my grandmother. She’s 92 and she’s awake watching at home. I don’t think she’s missed a match since I’ve been on tour. Shout out to Grammy. Thanks for watching” Emma Navarro had said.

She was relieved that her match against Aryna Sabalenka got finished early, which means that her grandma can sleep early.

“I think she was in tears the other night after I gave her that shout out on TV. Happy she could watch my match at a normal hour. Thanks for watching again Gram” Navarro reiterated.

Emma Navarro faces Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Indian Wells

After Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka, Emma Navarro will now face Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. If her performance in the tournament so far has been any indication, the American will get a similar result against the Greek international as well.

Emma Navarro
Emma Navarro (Via IMAGO)

Sakkari defeated Diana Schnaider in the first round, Caroline Garcia in the second round and Diane Perry in the third round. Unlike Emma Navarro, she has not faced any big competition in the tournament so far which will make the match between these two very interesting.

The two players have met each other two times before and have exactly one win against one another. When they recently faced each other at the Dubai Open, Maria Sakkari defeated the American 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets. However, Emma Navarro is a much transformed player in this tournament apparently and it will be wrong to analyse things on the basis of a past tournament.

In case you missed it: