Emma Navarro Advances to Australian Open QF, Survives in Three Sets Again

Another match, another three-set thriller, and another victory for Emma Navarro at the 2025 Australian Open. The former Virginia tennis star played her fourth straight three-set match and survived yet again, outlasting No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in the fourth round on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Navarro is set to meet No. 2 seed and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday (match time TBD).

Nerves of steel.

Our No.8 seed outlasts our No.9 seed to stay alive at #AO2025 @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/0yKkNvjhwo
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2025

This match is already being called one of the best and most entertaining of this Australian Open, as two of the top players in the world went the distance and each set was closely-contested. Navarro stormed out of the gates, breaking Kasatkina twice en route to a 4-0 lead, but Kasatkina rallied and broke Navarro's serve each of the next three times to make it a 5-4 set. But neither player could hold her serve as Kasatkina committed three unforced errors in the final game, allowing Navarro to break again and win the opening set 6-4.

Breaks continued to be the dominant trend of the match in the second set. After both players posted multiple breaks early in the set, Navarro nearly clinched the match with another break as she reached three match points up 5-4 on Kasatkina's serve, but squandered all three points as Kasatkina survived and went on to win the next two games to claim the second set 7-5 and force the match to a deciding third set.

Once again, neither player could consistently hold her serve as breaks continued to be common in the third set. Navarro managed to hold her serve in a marathon 11th game to take a 6-5 lead in the set and then Kasatkina went up 30-0 in the next game, but then committed four-straight errors to cede the match to Navarro, who became just the second women's tennis player to ever advance to the Australian Open quarterfinals after having each of her first four matches go to three sets. Navarro held off fellow American Peyton Stearns in the first round 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, took down China's Xiyu Wang 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round, and then beat Tunisia's Ons Jabeur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the third round.

Emma stays thriving in deciders ☺️

Navarro is the second player in the Open Era to make the women's #AusOpen Quarterfinals with all three-setters in the first four Rounds after Jelena Dokic in 2009! pic.twitter.com/6S6DI7cKT3
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) January 20, 2025

More impressively, Navarro is also the only player to make the quarterfinals at each of the last three Grand Slams. Her breakout 2024 season included a trip to the Wimbledon quarterfinals and the U.S. Open semifinals sandwiched around an appearance at the 2024 Paris Olympics as part of the U.S. Olympic Tennis Team. Now, Navarro has reached at least the quarterfinals at three of the four Grand Slams and will look to take down former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in order to advance to her second-consecutive Grand Slam semifinal.

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