Important events
A Navarro double brings Badosa to 15:1 but she can’t hit consistently enough to seriously challenge for a second break before Navarro seals her victory with a beautiful forehand shot. She is on the board in the second set at 6-2 1-2.
We are at 30-all Badosa tries to consolidate her lead, a sweeping serve to the body puts Navarro under pressure, who can’t react, and then the Spaniard’s forehand does the rest. This is better from Badosa, who knew she had to step up while her opponent was most likely going to retire. Badosa 2:6 2:0 Navarro
The break for the set also means that Navarro will serve first in the second set and she has been very solid so far. But has she lost concentration? Very quickly the score is 0-30, but a sudden change of pace on the backhand catches Badosa off guard… then she hits it too wide. Five unforced shots in the first set, now three in this game! And although Badosa then hits it veeeery wide – she’s still not herself – Navarro misses her backhand and all the hard work to win the first set may have been for nothing in the first game of the second set! She leads 6-2, 0-1.
Navarro copes much better with the pressure and manages a 0:40 and three set points. Two are lost when she hits too wide, but she controls the next point, hitting a forehand down the middle at half court when she could have hit a winner. When the ball comes back, she decides it’s time to try her first drop of the match despite having countless options at her disposal and hits the ball wide. Navarro leads 6-2 and is playing well, but the way Badosa gave away the set was tamer than Gentle Ben.
Marion, who is standing on the sidelines, says Badosa seems to be breathing heavily and this is probably an expression of her nervousness. With Navarro up 30-0, we learn that she has won nine of the ten rallies by nine or more strokes. Soon, however, it’s 30-30, Navarro’s third unforced error levels the game, then Badosa takes control of the next exchange, hitting forehands from behind to open the court for a winner. She may have only just settled down, but a beautiful forehand winner from Navarro takes us to deuce; no matter, a mishit backhand means Badosa has the advantage, her improvement piles on the pressure, but she hits the net and we’re back in the round. From there, however, Navarto seals the deal, hitting a beautiful forehand drop to secure her footing and 5-2. The first set is almost hers.
An ace on the T is 30-15 but after a net cable jumps up and goes over it, Navarro lets the ball slip behind her, leaving Badosa to just shoot it around the post… but instead she slams it into the net and makes things difficult for herself. Not so difficult. A quick point, followed by another ace and it’s 2-4.
Badosa improves, makes 30-40 and does really well to get the next point with an excellent recall. But from there, Navarro again sends her places she doesn’t want to be until either a mistake is made or a chance for a winner arises; this time it’s the former and Navarro leads 4-1.
Badosa makes 30-0, but as she played the second of those points, Navarro read her intentions and smacked her backhand down the line. However, an ace followed… then another double… then another service winner. She’s not happy with her game, but she’s 1-3 on the board.
My computer crashes, She came back to life in time for me to see a miserable Badosa at 40-30 after she missed her chance to win a break point of her own. Instead, Navarro stormed in with a quick point to seal the game and take a 3-0 lead. Badosa needs to get going quickly or this set is over.
Great backhand win for Badosa makes 15:0 but then Navarro catches a ball that’s a little short, lands a backhand on the baseline, and then hits a forehand winner. But then she hits a forehand and hits a double – PRESSURE! – meaning she has two break points – and another double thwarts the early break! Navarro leads 2-0!
Great start from Navarro, who plays a really solid point for 15-0, directs Badosa across the court and then finishes at 0. She is in the game and if she gets her first return in, she will give her opponent something food for thought what to think about.
And play, Navarro serves.
Good news: Marion is in co-communication and her mix of enthusiasm and analysis is extremely entertaining.
In the studio they are divided: Henman and Bartoli are playing against Navarro and Lopez Badosa. In other words, it’s a close game.
…and here they come!
Our players are ready…
But back to today: Who will win our first game? Badosa is the better player with the bigger game, so it’s hard to see how Navarro can beat her when she’s playing well. But her style is high risk, high reward, and if she’s nervous or inaccurate, she’s playing against someone who can more than punish her.
So who will win these pots? In the women’s competition, Aryna Sabalenka is hard to beat; of course Iga Swiatek can challenge her on a really good day, but she doesn’t like this surface and is therefore not as confident as usual. Badosa could do that on her best day; I don’t think Navarro could.
The men’s tournament is more open, especially because the only two players to have won a major, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, are playing against each other. But really, almost anyone could make it from here – personally, I’d love to watch Grigor Dimitrov – it’s just a matter of who can find what they need when they need it.
preamble
Yo guys, and welcome to the 2024 US Open – Day Nine!
We have only been chatting for the last eight days, today we are talkand we start with an absolutely awesome debate.
Paula Badosa had so many problems with her back and mental health that she seriously considered giving up the game. That sounds regrettable when you write it, but when you really think about it – a potentially brilliant athlete in her prime who sacrificed her youth for her art and feels unable to continue – you feel a little of the anguish that must have enveloped her. But she found a way and as 2024 progressed, the former world No. 2 has gradually rediscovered the joyful power and aggressiveness that makes her so special. She deserves it and she is a danger.
But so has Emma Navarro. At 23, she has perfected her game and knows what it takes to be a top professional, a much fitter and tougher act than ever before. To get to this point, she has beaten both Marta Kostyuk and Coco Gauff in three tough sets and although it was close the first time when she looked to have eliminated the champion, she learned from it and when the chance came again, she took it with the utmost bias. After beating Gauff to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, she was then crushed by Jasmine Paolini; she will be keen to show her home crowd that she has learned from that too.
They will be followed by a battle of the highest level on the Ashe court. No one without a Grand Slam title has come closer to victory than Alexander Zverev, who took Carlos Alcaraz the distance in the final of the French Open after losing a two-set lead to Dominic Thiem in the final of that competition in 2020. Now that Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are gone, he will once again feel his time has come – more intensely than ever – and given his serve and backhand are among the best shots in the game, he has good reason to do so.
There is always a but, however – in this case Taylor Fritz, who beat the German at Wimbledon. His serve and forehand have always been nasty and still are, but what has changed recently is the belief that he can beat the best on the biggest occasions. He has the game to give Zverev plenty of opposition.
If that were all, it would be enough, but there is also a history of taunts. Although the two players are on good terms, Zverev took issue with the support Fritz received from his box at Wimbledon, while Instagram posts by Fritz’s girlfriend Morgan Riddle – which were later deleted – appeared to refer to allegations of domestic violence made against Zverev by two former partners – which Riddle later said were false.
We’ll see if there’s any hostilities, but either way, we’re in for a great day of tennis (US Open). Fantastic! Let’s go!
Play: 12pm local time, 5pm BST
