Navarro ousts Osaka in Bad Homburg, sets meeting with top seed Pegula

Emma Navarro is into her third straight quarterfinal at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt after a straight-sets win over former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka on Tuesday.

Emma Navarro remains a force to be reckoned with at the Bad Homburg Open powered by Solarwatt.

Navarro, the No. 5 seed from the United States, is into her third straight Bad Homburg Open quarterfinal after a clinical 6-4, 6-4 win over former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka in Tuesday's second round.

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World No. 10 Navarro needed 1 hour and 27 minutes to collect the victory, denying four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka her first Top 10 win since she ousted Jelena Ostapenko at last year's US Open.

"I think I played a lot of good tennis," Navarro said on court, after her win. "So did she, she made it really tough on me. Definitely there’s some things to work on too, so I’ll be looking forward to improving for next round."

Navarro is a rock-solid 8-2 at Bad Homburg. She reached the semifinals in each of her two previous appearances at this event, and only the eventual champions could stop her (Katerina Siniakova in 2023 and Diana Shnaider in 2024, respectively).

If she wants to make another semifinal here, Navarro will have to beat her countrywoman and friend, No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula, in the quarterfinals. Pegula won their only previous meeting in straight sets, on the hard courts of Miami last year.

"[Pegula] might be listening from the hotel, so I can’t give away too much," Navarro said. "I have to keep my cards close to my chest.

"Jess is awesome, she’s been a really great role model for me coming up. We’ve shared a lot of great experiences on the court and off court. ... She brings a great energy to the tour, she’s very chill, very relaxed, and very smart as well. So I have a lot to learn from her."

Repeat performance: Coming into Tuesday's match, Navarro could take confidence from the fact that she had beaten Osaka before -- and on grass, no less.

In their only previous meeting, Navarro took down Osaka 6-4, 6-1 in the second round of Wimbledon last year. Navarro would go on to make her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at that Wimbledon.

Osaka, who fired 16 aces in her opening-round win, got a handful more games this time around, but she could not prevent Navarro from besting her in straight sets again.

Key moments: In the last match of the day, Navarro won eight points in a row, including a service break at love, to move ahead 5-4 in the opening set. The American served out the set with ease to take command of the clash.

Osaka had a major opportunity early in the second set, where she led 2-1 and held three break points at 0-40 on Navarro's serve. But Navarro erased those chances -- the third one with a stunning forehand rally winner -- to stay level.

At last, Navarro took charge for good by grinding out a tough break to lead 5-4. In the next game, Osaka misfired on return to give Navarro match point, and the No. 5 seed advanced after an Osaka miscue found the net.

Navarro converted three of her nine break points in the match to triumph. Osaka again found a large number of aces (nine) but she was undone by 42 unforced errors.

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