MELBOURNE, Australia — No. 8 Emma Navarro wanted to play the longest WTA-level match of her profession — 3 hours and 20 minutes — and rallied from 5-3 down within the third set to beat fellow American Peyton Stearns 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5 within the first spherical of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
A semifinalist on the US Open final 12 months, Navarro was seeded within the prime eight at a serious for the primary time and was finishing a set of appearances on the middle courts on the Grand Slams together with her first look on Rod Laver Arena.
So, how did she really feel after being pushed all the way in which by the big-hitting Steans?
“Great,” she mentioned, telling the gang the period of the match felt like a time warp. “Crazy match right now.
“I simply saved telling myself to profit from what I had right now. Maybe it wasn’t my greatest, however she put up a extremely good battle. Really pleased to only get the win.”
Their match was the primary all-American ladies’s main match to go previous 5-all in all three units for the reason that 2005 French Open (Amy Frazier defeated Meghann Shaughnessy within the first spherical 7-5, 5-7, 7-5).
“One of the extra distinctive matches I’ve performed shortly, I believe,” Navarro mentioned. “Definitely didn’t have my greatest stuff right now. It was simply relying loads, I suppose, on my grit and toughness and battle.
“She had a number of moments there the place she might have perhaps closed it out or run away with it. I simply tried to remain actually robust.”
It’s the longest ladies’s match of the event up to now.
For Emma Raducanu, profitable within the first spherical on the Australian Open was all the time going to be extra essential than how she achieved the outcome.
That was clear Tuesday when the 2021 US Open champion celebrated her 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) win over No. 26-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova out on Court 3, the place a scattering of British flags fluttered in a lightweight breeze on Day 3 at Melbourne Park.
In her first match since November, the 22-year-old British participant had 15 double faults, made 30 unforced errors and received simply 30% of factors on her second serve. But she was ok within the huge moments, with 22 winners and 9 aces, to claw her approach into the second spherical.
“Honestly, I’m unsure what I modified in my serve right now. I believe it had a thoughts of its personal,” Raducanu mentioned. “In the primary set I used to be hitting a number of good first serves. I hit just a few aces. At the identical time I used to be hitting a double fault. I used to be fairly of accepting that, OK, I’m not less than going for it.
“As the balls obtained heavier, it was much more tough. As extra saved coming, it wasn’t straightforward to refocus, however I knew even when I used to be down, I’ve nice returns.”
Because she wasn’t enjoying competitively, the largest information about her again house was her minor again bother earlier this month and the actual fact she refused treatment for ant bites final week — simply to be on the protected facet by way of remedy that may run her afoul of anti-doping laws.
Alexandrova served for the primary set, which contained eight service breaks, however Raducanu broke again instantly.
In the second set, Raducanu led 4-2 however then misplaced management of her serve once more and wanted to save lots of a set level earlier than forcing one other tiebreaker, which she dominated.
Raducanu raced to a 6-0 lead within the breaker and, with an excessive amount of of a result in fear, held her nerve to clinch her first win of 2025.
Since turning into the primary participant to win a Grand Slam title after going by means of qualifying, Raducanu hasn’t been previous the fourth spherical of a serious. She has reached the third spherical for the previous three years in Australia.
She’ll subsequent play Amanda Anisimova, who had a 6-2, 6-3 win over Maria Carle.
“I do know she’s an enormous ball-striker,” Raducanu mentioned. “I practiced together with her a pair instances. She likes to dictate. So I believe it may be an enormous problem for me.”
Ninth-seeded Daria Kasatkina was the primary by means of on Day 3, dropping the primary recreation earlier than profitable the following seven straight en path to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Viktoriya Tomova.
ESPN Research, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
