Photo Source: TTV
Emma Navarro entered Thursday evening’s clash with Jelena Ostapenko with a 7-2 record in deciding sets. Add another loss to that total.
11th-ranked Navarro battled valiantly, as she always does, but could not withstand 44 winners off the electric racquet of the Latvian as Ostapenko pulled away for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory to set a quarterfinal with Iga Swiatek at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. “Obviously she is such a great player,” Ostapenko said of Navarro after the win. “I knew I had to play aggressive against her and to play good angles and step into the court. She was moving really well today.”
The 24th-ranked Latvian improves to 3-1 against Top-20 players in 2025 as she matches her career-best quarterfinal result at Stuttgart, from seven career appearances.
She was brave in the final set, racing out to a 2-0 lead and then pulling away by winning the final four games after Navarro had pegged her back to 2-2.
“I feel like even though the second set didn’t go my way I was really into the match and I was telling myself ‘You can do this, you can win this match, you just have to fight until the last point’” the 2017 Roland-Garros winner said. Next up Ostapenko will take a sparkling 5-0 record against five-time major champion in what will feature as their first ever hard court meeting.
“When I play against her – I know she’s a great player and I have so much respect for her – I just step on the court and focus on the things I have to do,” Ostapenko, who defeated Swiatek 6-3, 6-1 in their last meeting in the Doha semifinals, said. “I just fight for every single point and I feel like when my game is on it is really hard for her to hold my style.”
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff was also in action on Thursday and the American was in no mood to hang around. She eased past Germany’s Ella Seidel 6-1 6-1 to book a quarterfinal with Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. Gauff has won both of her previous meetings with the two-time major finalist.
Fifth-seeded Paolini got past Germany’s Jule Niemeier 6-1, 7-5.
American Jessica Pegula, the No.3 seed also advanced with ease, 6-1 6-1 over Magdalena Frech.
Mirra Andreeva, the sixth seed, was bounced out of contention by surging Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-3, 6-2. The Russian got her 18th career Top-10 win against the Stuttgart debutante.