Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro, the top two American women and respectively seeded No.1 and No.2 in Adelaide, are safely through to the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 tournament.
Making her tournament debut in Adelaide, Emma Navarro edged out Ekaterina Alexandrova, 7-6(4), 6-4 in a tight two-set battle.
Despite Navarro being up 5-2 and 5-3 in both sets, Alexandrova hung in the match with big first serves and relentless hitting from the baseline.
“Yeah, it went a little bit longer than I’d hoped. I couldn’t close it out from the start but played really tough and got my first win of the year and happy to be back in Australia,” the American commented after her victory.
In a topsy-turvy match full of momentum shifts, it was the second-seeded Navarro who was steadiest when it counted. Alexandrova was her own worst enemy at times, hitting 45 unforced errors to Navarro’s 15.
Currently ranked a career-high No.8, Navarro was ranked No.31 at the same time last year, highlighting the steady trajectory that earned her WTA Most Improved Player of the Year honours in 2024.
Impressively, Navarro also boasts 16 career wins over top-30 players, most recently claiming three consecutive top-30 wins – over Marta Kostyuk, Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa – during her semifinal run at the 2024 US Open.
She praised her team for helping her achieve these results. “(There’s) a lot of hard work, a lot of resilience, a lot of work from my team, behind the scenes and on the sidelines,” she said. “Definitely a group effort that we’re looking to improve on this season.”
Emma Navarro was picture perfect with her placement today 🫢
Two winners finding the lines sends her through to the next round at the #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/MpGXHGph2Q
— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 8, 2025
Top seed Pegula progressed against Greek No.1 woman, Maria Sakkari, in a slightly more straightforward affair, 6-4, 6-1.
“It’s always tough getting that first win of the new year. You don’t know what to expect out of everyone not to mention yourself especially heading into the Australian Open next week but my focus is on here so I was glad to get it done here today,” the American said.
Pegula, who last competed at the WTA Finals in November, looked a little shaky early against Sakkari, but grew in confidence as the match wore on.
Playing tight to the baseline, Pegula took the ball early, not allowing Sakkari to establish a rhythm. Notably, Sakkari struggled on serve, with Pegula creating break point chances in all but one of the Greek’s service games.
Now leading 6-5 in their head-to-head meetings, this is Pegula’s third consecutive win against the Greek, having last defeated her at the 2023 WTA Finals and at the 2023 Tokyo Open.
Pegula drew on this recent edge over Sakkari to help her to victory.
“I have played her a bunch of times so there was a little strategy that I wanted to execute, and I was able to do that,” she said.
The American also had a solid 2024 season, winning two titles and reaching four finals, including the US Open where she fell short against Aryna Sabalenka.
While Pegula credits this success to multiple aspects of her game, the American is also sticking to what she does best.
“You always kinda wanna be working on things: movement, serve and then little intangibles like slices, coming in and trying to get a little bit better at the net,” she pointed out.
“Not only that but sticking to my game and getting a little better at what I do best and not losing sight of how I like to play tennis.”
Fantastic Felix👑
He comes back from a set down to defeat Arthur Cazaux and marches into the next round 📌#AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/dmNlOFmk5G
— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 8, 2025
There as also progress for the men’s seeds competing on Day 3 in Adelaide. Sebastian Korda, the No.2 seed, was a straight-sets winner over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No.7 seed, was a three-set winner over Arthur Cazaux.
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