No. 16 seed Emma Navarro stormed into the China Open quarterfinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 upset of top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland on Wednesday in Beijing.
Navarro dominated the World No. 2 in the third set to finish the match in two hours and 30 minutes. Her triumph was her first in three meetings with the 2023 Beijing champion and moved her into the final eight of a WTA 1000 event for the first time this season.
Navarro saved four of seven break points and converted six of her 15 break chances.
“I definitely had some adjusting to do after our last couple times playing,” Navarro said. “I wanted to come out and play calm and steady and focused tennis. I did that, so I’m happy with the way the match went tonight.”
Up next for Navarro is fellow American and No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula, who held off No. 23 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1 in two hours and 18 minutes.
Pegula saved five of eight break points and broke Kostyuk’s serve eight times — three times in the deciding set.
Pegula won both previous meetings with Navarro at Bad Homburg in 2025 and Miami in 2024.
England’s Sonay Kartal also enjoyed a breakthrough victory, outlasting fourth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to notch her first top-10 win and first WTA 1000 quarterfinal appearance.
Kartal saved four of six break points and broke Andreeva’s serve to win the final games of the first and third sets.
“The way I carry myself on the court is one of my biggest assets, I think,” said Kartal, the first British quarterfinalist in this event since Johanna Konta in 2016.
“You can look down the other end of the court and you won’t really know if I’m winning or losing. I just tried to put that second set behind me — she played some great tennis. I just tried to level it out in the third set and keep the scoreboard pressure as far as I could.”
Andreeva fell to 16-3 against players ranked outside the top 50 this year, with all three losses coming since June: to Lois Boisson in the French Open quarterfinals, to Taylor Townsend in the U.S. Open third round, and to Kartal.
Kartal will face No. 26 seed Linda Noskova, a Czech, who overpowered Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 6-4 in 87 minutes.
–Field Level Media
