One of the four top 10 seeds left in the women’s draw, American Emmanavaro returned from the set on Saturday in the third round to eliminate defending Wimbledon champions Barbora Krezikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Navarro extended his most recent one winner at the club of England and assured him another first time women’s champion grass court major.
“What I take a lot of pride is fighting tough to the last point, no matter the situation, and that’s what I always try to do,” said Navarro, born in New York. “If I gave up, I couldn’t live with myself. That’s not my nature. I don’t think I’ll give up anything to the nature of my family. I think we’re a stubborn bunch.”
Krejcikova declined in the third set, checking his blood pressure at the conversion after Navarro led 3-2 in the No. 1 courtroom. Krejcikova ate a banana and drank liquids during his medical timeout.
When play resumed, Creschkova showed clear signs of suffering, often placing his hands on his lap and hers between the points.
“I actually felt it was getting worse,” said Klezikova, who came in 17th but now rolled out from the top 70 in the WTA rankings. “That’s very sad and very sad for me.”
This isn’t Navarro’s first big victory on the big stage. Last year, she eliminated Wimbledon’s Coco Gough to reach her first major quarterfinals. Then, in a rematch a few months later, Navarro won again at the US Open – Gouf was the 2023 champion – making his debut in the slam semi-finals.
The 24-year-old Navarro made his fifth 16-round appearance in the last six majors, and has been linked to Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff in the most range of his range. She met 18-year-old Russian No. 7 Mira Andreva in the quarter-finals on Monday.
Against Krejcikova, Navarro downed the set and took a 2-1 break, 2-1 before turning things around.
“I tried to reorganize a bit, slow things down a bit from my side and try to see some different shots,” Navarro said. “I’m just trying to make it as uncomfortable as I can.”
Most of the points were determined by what Krejcikova did. That’s why she ended up with 34 winners (21 more than Navarro) and 53 forced errors. Surprisingly, Navarro ended with just 11 forced errors.
“My slices are coming out pretty well. I can use them for my benefit,” Navarro said. “I played scraps from time to time, I played tough, and some good ground strokes also hit.
Last year’s victory was second in Krejcikova’s major tournaments and also won the 2021 French Open.
No. 8 Iga Swiatek, who defeated unseeded American Daniel Collins on Saturday in straight sets due to Krejcikova’s loss, is the only major champion remaining in the lower half of the draw.
Anyone who will be reeling the women’s trophy on July 12th will be the ninth champion of the previous nine editions of the Grass Court Grand Slam Tournament. Serena Williams was the last recurring champion of 2016.
Since then, the winners have been Garvinmgulza in 2017, Angelique Carver in 2018, Simona Halep in 2019, Ash Barty in 2021 – all now retired – Elena Rivakina in 2022, Marchena Rivakina in 2023, and then Krezikova in 2023 (which hit in 2020).
Rivakina lost Saturday. Vondrousova finished in the second round.
ESPN research and Associated Press contributed to this report.