Australian Open: Navarro again goes the distance, edging past Kasatkina to make last eight

Emma Navarro, the No 8 seed, advanced to the last eight of the Australian Open by edging out Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 9 seed, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 at Melbourne Park.

It was a topsy-turvy and, at times, chaotic affair that saw a total of 17 breaks of serve in 34 games – only half of the games played were held.

Navarro edged the first before Kasatkina wrestled back parity in the second. Another close set in the decider saw the American dig deep to save break point after a stunning rally in the eleventh game before breaking in the next to seal victory.

Currently ranked eighth in the world, Navarro has reached the Australian Open for the first time and has now made the second week of all four Grand Slams – a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that twelve months ago, she had yet to make it to the second week of any of the majors.

Navarro, ranked No 8, will face Pole Iga Swiatek, the second seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, the American won against Peyton Stearns (6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5), Chinese Xiyu Wang (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) and Tunisian Ons Jabeur (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).

Kasatkina, ranked No 10, defeated Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-1, 6-3), Chinese Yafan Wang (6-2, 6-0) and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, the No 24 seed (7-5, 6-1) earlier in the tournament.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last-16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Iga Swiatek beat Eva Lys (LL): 6-0, 6-1
• Madison Keys (19) beat Elena Rybakina (6): 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
• Elina Svitolina (28) beat Veronika Kudermetova: 6-4, 6-1
• Paula Badosa (11) beat Olga Danilovic: 6-1, 7-6 (2)
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) beat Donna Vekic (18): 7-6, 6-0
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Belinda Bencic: 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Mirra Andreeva (14): 6-1, 6-2