Indian Wells: Navarro’s streak continues, beats Sabalenka to reach quarter-finals

American Emma Navarro, the No 23 seed, defeated Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to move into the last eight of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Wednesday.

This is Navarro’s 18th match win of the year, making her the current tour leader (ahead of Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek, both on 17), and she has also won 11 of her 13 three-setters thus far this season.

It is also her career best win by ranking, having beaten one other Top 10-ranked player (Maria Sakkari in San Diego last year). This will also be the first WTA 1000 Series quarter-final for Navarro.

“I’ve worked really hard over the years to kind of just get to this point and be able to play at a level that can compete with the best players in the world. I think that showed today,” she said in her press conference afterwards.

“Yeah, just excited to get the win. I’m ready for the next one.”

I always step on the court believing that I have a chance to win, and it’s always my priority to just put my best foot forward.

Emma Navarro

Navarro, ranked No 23, will play Greece’s Maria Sakkari, the No 9 seed, next – another big challenge for the American who has shot up the rankings over the past season.

“I think that one of the things I love about playing is that I get to challenge myself every single week. So playing an opponent like that on that stage is the same challenge as improving my forehand or improving my backhand. It’s one of the things that keeps me invested in playing, and it makes things interesting and pushes me to be a better player,” Navarro said. “I always step on the court believing that I have a chance to win, and it’s always my priority to just put my best foot forward. If a win comes from that, then that’s awesome. It’s definitely cool to be able to play an opponent like that (Sabalenka) and feel like, you know, I can hang and I can win.”

Earlier in the tournament, the 22-year-old American edged out Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (4-6, 7-5, 7-5) and won against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, the No 16 seed (6-1, 4-6, 6-3).

Sabalenka: I didn’t feel my best

Sabalenka, ranked No 2, edged out American Peyton Stearns (6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6 (6)) and beat wildcard Emma Raducanu (6-3, 7-5) in the previous rounds of the Indian Wells tournament.

“I would say that this year Indian Wells I didn’t feel my best on these courts,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “I tried to adjust. We tried to work on couple of things, make sure I’m there and I’m fighting for this title.

“I would say that we did our best and we’ll learn. We’ll work a little bit more on the movement, and hopefully I’ll be ready for Miami.”

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Indian Wells WTA 1000, other round of 16 results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 9,258,080):

• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-1, 6-2
• Caroline Wozniacki (WC) beat Angelique Kerber: 6-4, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (31) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22): 6-4, 6-1
• Anastasia Potapova (28) beat Jasmine Paolini (13): 7-5, 0-6, 6-3
• Yue Yuan vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Diane Parry vs. Maria Sakkari
• Elise Mertens vs. Coco Gauff