Emma Navaro, of the United States, hits a return to Taylor Townsend, of the United States, during tennis action at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Saturday August 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO – Emma Navarro has advanced to the semifinals at the National Bank Open.
The No. 8 seed downed American counterpart Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-6 (5) at Sobeys Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Navarro will meet either No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka or Amanda Anisimova on Sunday for a spot in the women’s final.
Townsend’s unlikely run as a “lucky loser” – the first to make a WTA 1000 quarterfinal – at Canada’s tennis championship came to an end on Centre Court after entering the draw as an injury replacement before No. 16 seed Dayana Yastremska retired from their match and she upset No. 4 Jelena Ostapenko.
Defending champion and No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula was slated to face Peyton Stearns in Saturday’s quarterfinals in another all-American matchup.
The five U.S.-born women in the final eight are the most at a WTA 1000 event since the format’s inception in 2009, and the most at any tour event since 2001.
No. 14 Diana Shnaider, who knocked off top seed Coco Gauff on Friday, was scheduled to take on fellow Russian and No. 6 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the late match of the US$3.2-million event.
Pegula beat Samsonova in last year’s final in Montreal.
All of Canada’s singles entries were eliminated earlier in the week – both here in Toronto and at the men’s event in Montreal – but the doubles bracket still has plenty of red Maple Leafs dotting the page.
The top-ranked duo of Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe were set to take on wild-card entry Mia Kupres of Edmonton and Ariana Arseneault of Richmond Hill, Ont., for a spot in the semifinals.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and younger sister Bianca, meanwhile, took on France’s Kristina Mladenovic and China’s Zhang Shuai in the day’s other quarterfinal.
The finals at this year’s NBO tournament are being played on Monday instead of Sunday because of scheduling related to the Paris Olympics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2024.
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