Navarro Beats Kalinskaya to Reach US Open QF

Emma Navarro is back in the US Open quarterfinals after beating Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, per the WTA and Reuters. The match lasted 1 hour, 21 minutes, and it flipped a head-to-head that used to belong to Kalinskaya.

Next up is Jessica Pegula in the first all-American women's singles quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams beat Venus Williams in 2015. That is the stake. Navarro already lived a US Open semifinal in 2024. Pegula is the No. 3 seed and the player who owns their series.

Straight sets after the early bite

Navarro, the 26th seed, took the first set 6-4 and then jumped ahead 5-1 in the second. Kalinskaya, who had won their prior meetings, clawed one break back. It was not enough. Navarro broke again in the eighth game and closed 6-2. First-serve percentage and break-point conversion stayed with the American once she settled into Ashe's night rhythm.

She said it felt good to be back on Ashe after a couple of years away from that stage. The 25-year-old also reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2025 Australian Open following time off the tour earlier this year for health reasons. Sunday night was the return chapter, not a soft exhibition. Kalinskaya made her hit through the first set before the second opened up.

Kalinskaya entered with wins in both prior meetings, so the straight-sets scoreline mattered beyond the bracket line. Navarro converted break points at a high clip and cleaned up the second-serve looks that used to leak points in those earlier losses. Night Ashe rewarded the cleaner return stance, not nostalgia.

Pegula, and the American QF

Pegula leads Navarro 4-0 for their careers, including a 7-5, 6-2 win last month in Cincinnati. Navarro knows the problem: flat ball, relentless depth, almost no free points. She also knows Flushing can rewrite form when the home crowd locks in. Earlier Sunday, Pegula beat Sorana Cirstea in straight sets to set the matchup.

For fans watching the home slate stack up, Navarro's return to the last eight is the missing piece next to Pegula's steady Week 2 path. Straight sets. Clear scoreboard. An all-American quarterfinal that Flushing has not hosted in more than a decade.

Navarro's win capped a loud American day that also featured Shelton, Pegula, and Tiafoe moving on. The quarterfinal is history before a ball is struck because of the all-U.S. bracket line. The tennis still has to answer Pegula's pace. Navarro earned the chance with a clean Round of 16. Ashe will decide the rest.