Emma Navarro seemed to be enjoying life in China dancing with locals and playing ping pong. But on the tennis court, it was completely the opposite as the World No.8 was defeated in a seismic shock at the
China Open through the night.
Navarro was easily beaten 6-4, 6-2 by
Shuai Zhang who in the last 19 months has lost a record 24 consecutive tennis matches. But it seems like with that burden now gone after winning earlier this week and being on home soil has given her a real freedom.
She easily defeated the American who now sees her WTA Finals chances hang on by a thread with limited tournaments compared to the men for the rest of the season. Albeit Navarro being Navarro means she will likely toil to try and get into the WTA Finals through smaller tournaments and any route necessary.
But on a week where she could've closed in on Riyadh especially with many of the big names not attending, it proved to be a bit of an embarrassment as she lost to a player who has survived on protected ranking amid her slump and albeit has quality on her day has not shown it for over a year.
A crushing loss and back to the drawing board. It is the day though of the main names losing aside from one with Greet Minnen sweeping Anastasia Potapova in three sets. While Yura Starodubtseva eased past Katerina Siniakova. Only really Diana Shnaider who has had success in China before impressed with a 6-2, 6-3 win. It shows certainly that the conditions lend themselves to shocks and with Pegula and Gauff to come, it could yet see more today.
For now though, Navarro is the main casualty and an unexpected one too against a player who has been the easiest to beat for some time until this week. Can she rack up even more wins now?
