American fortunes in Cincinnati: Jessica Pegula cruises while Emma Navarro suffers shocking upset

The women's draw at the Cincinnati Open saw Jessica Pegula as the leader of the American representatives, securing a 6-4, 6-3 victory against the Australian Kimberly Birrell and starting her run in good form at the tournament, where she reached the final in 2024. The 4th seed is waiting to face Magda Linette in the Round of 32.

On the other hand, Emma Navarro suffered a surprising defeat against the German Ella Seidel, falling in three sets. The 23-year-old American is still struggling to find her footing on hardcourts and will arrive at the US Open with only one win and three defeats. Navarro will defend semifinal points at Flushing Meadows, so she is exposed to a significant drop in the rankings in the coming weeks.

The world No. 4 was undoubtedly the favorite against the Australian, despite coming off a surprising defeat in Montreal against the world No. 267 Sevastova. Pegula—who reached the Cincinnati final in 2024—had a commanding performance, with a great display on her serve to secure a confidence-boosting victory.

Pegula had a first set in which she won up to 69% of the service points and took advantage of her opponent's problems with her own serve to get two breaks in three opportunities. Birrell only managed a 41% first-serve percentage, in addition to committing six double faults, which made it very difficult for her to keep up with the always consistent Pegula, who got the definitive break when Birrell was serving at 5-4 and took a relatively even first set, but one in which the American always looked more commanding.

In the second set, it was again Pegula who managed to get her opponent in trouble on her serve. She got several break points—in practically every one of Birrell's service games—and a single break in the fourth game gave her a sufficient advantage to take the victory. The American wasted a match point on the return but ended up guaranteeing a smooth victory by 6-4, 6-3 after one hour and 21 minutes, securing her match against Magda Linette (31st seed) in the Round of 32.

The 8th seed of the tournament suffered an early elimination at the hands of the German Ella Seidel, being the first WTA top-15 player eliminated from the tournament. Navarro was not in a good moment in the last few weeks since the return to hardcourts, but this defeat is already starting to worry about the level of the world No. 11, who had a good chance this week to return to the top-10.

However, she left with a disappointment against the 20-year-old qualifier Ella Seidel, who is making her first appearance in a WTA 1000 tournament. She qualified after passing the qualifying round and defeated Polina Kudermetova in her debut in three sets. This time, Seidel gets her first victory against a top-20 tennis player, showing a great level of tennis—especially in the third set.

And the match was a battle of nerves in which the 20-year-old showed nerves of steel in the important moments. In the first set, she got a break on her first chance of the match—going up 5-4—and then saved a couple of break points against her to take the set 6-4.

In the second set, it was Navarro who crushed her opponent, taking the first five games consecutively (getting two breaks in six opportunities) and ending up taking the set comfortably by 6-1. It seemed that the American would be the one to go for the victory afterward. She started the third set with a good advantage, with a double break and a 4-1 lead.

However, the worst happened for Navarro, who completely lost her way in the match, and against a Seidel who seemed to have nothing to lose against the local star, everything went in favor of the German, who came back from 1-4 to 6-4 in the third set, getting the best victory of her career and advancing for the first time to the third round of a WTA 1000, where she is waiting for the winner of the all-American clash between Caty McNally (WC) and McCartney Kessler (29th).