AMERICAN 19th seed Emma Navarro has enjoyed a strong 2024 season, and her form continued overnight as she ousted Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round of Wimbledon last night. Reaching the Round of 16 at a third consecutive major in 2024 after not getting past the Round of 64 previously, Navarro is ready to make an impact.

The composed New York resident needed less than an hour to dispose of Osaka, winning 6-4 6-1 on Centre Court at the All England Club. She hit just five unforced errors in the match and backed up her 6-6-2 thrashing of Qiang Wang in a 49-minute first round rout.

“Naomi’s obviously a great player, has played some great tennis – it’s great to have her back on tour,” Navarro said post-match.

“(I) obviously wanted to get the win today, (and) played some really good tennis at times. It’s my first time on Centre Court. It doesn’t really seem to be real.”

Incredibly Navarro did not face a break point, and converted four of five chances herself in a near-spotless performance. The American hit 16 winners against a quality opponent known for her power, while winning 82 and 58 per cent of her first and second serve points off a 73 per cent clip.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun on grass,” Navarro said. “It’s kind of been the theme of my time on tour so far, just trying to really enjoy myself – and today was no exception. So I’m just having a lot of fun and it was a really special atmosphere.”

The 23 year-old was playing her first match on Centre Court but never looked overawed, weathering Osaka’s power early and taking control to never looked back.

“Definitely a special experience playing out on Centre Court. There was some specific preparation today in terms of just a game plan and how I wanted to take it on, mentally,” Navarro said. “But also I think it’s been years of preparation that made me able to feel comfortable and feel like physically and mentally I’m able to take that challenge on.

“Growing up, I actually didn’t watch that much tennis. My brother watched way more than I did. He would get up at, like, five in the morning and catch a fifth set of whatever match. On occasion I would join him.

“I remember watching Federer and Nadal play. I don’t know how many times they played at Wimbledon, but, yeah, that’s a specific memory I have. “I was actually thinking about that when I was out on the court today, just that I’m playing on a court that Federer and Nadal once played on, and that’s pretty cool.”

Navarro will set her sights on rising Russian Diana Shnaider – who she funnily enough partnered with in doubles at the French Open to reach a semi-final – and look to seek revenge from her three-set semi-final loss in Bad Homburg. The last time Navarro beat her was way back in 2019 at the Australian Open Juniors where as the number one seed, won 6-0 6-2.

AROUND THE COURTS

There were not a great deal of surprises on day three, though China’s Lin Zhu‘s 6-4 6-3 win over 25th seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was pretty impressive. Grand Slam winner Bianca Andreescu also defeated young seeded Czech Linda Noskova in a tight two sets, while crowd favourite Emma Raducanu destroyed Belgian Elise Mertens, 6-1 6-2.

In other results, second seed Coco Gauff won just as easily over surprise packet Romanian Anca Todoni, while Jasmine Paolini, Maria Sakkari and Danielle Collins all advanced to the next stage of the event. Both Dayana Yastremska and Barbora Krejcikova moved through as seeds to the third and second round respectively, but not without enormous fights.

New Zealander Lulu Sun continued her remarkable Grand Slam run with a come-from-behind win over Ukrainian Yulia Starodubtsewa to reach the Round of 32. Former world number three Elina Svitolina and local hope Sonay Kartal were among the other winners on the day.