HOBART, Australia — Second-seeded American Emma Navarro claimed her first WTA Tour title in her first last Saturday when she beat two-time champion and top-seeded Elise Mertens 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 to win the Hobart Worldwide.
The 22-year-old Navarro outlasted Mertens of Belgium in a grueling last that lasted 2 hours, 48 minutes to proceed her extraordinary rise over the previous 12 months.
She is the second straight American champion after Lauren Davis in 2023.
Navarro was ranked No. 149 this time final yr, however the New York born and primarily based participant now has risen to No. 31. She additionally made the semifinals in Auckland final week in a formidable begin to 2024 and is 8-1 for the season.
“I do not know if I may put phrases to the feelings, however it’s been plenty of years within the making,” Navarro mentioned. “My coach and I’ve been collectively for eight years, I feel. From the place we began to now, it is actually loopy to consider.
“Most likely six, seven years in the past, I hoped to be an honest faculty participant and that was going to be ok for me. So to be right here now, it is actually loopy and I suppose only a testomony to the work we have each put in.”
Navarro is the No. 27 seed at subsequent week’s Australian Open and can play Wang Xiyu of China within the first spherical in her match debut.
The 28-year-old Mertens is seeded twenty fifth in Melbourne and can play Egypt’s Mayar Sherif within the first spherical. She reached the semifinals in Melbourne in 2018 after successful the Hobart title for the second time.
