No. 2 seed Emma Navarro crashed out of the Adelaide International on Thursday after 26th-ranked Liudmila Samsonova handed her a 6-4 6-4 defeat in the quarterfinal.
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In what was their first meeting, there wasn't much consistency on either side but the difference was the Russian being able to deliver when it mattered the most.
After starting the match with back-to-back breaks and a 3-0 lead, Samsonova blew it and the scoreboard at one point in the first set showed 4-4.
Fortunately for the world No. 26, she didn't panic - claimed another break in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead - served out for the opener in the following game.
Down by a set, Navarro bounced back with an early second-set break and a 3-1 lead before losing five of the next six games and picking up a straight-set defeat.
Now, Samsonova- who fired 31 winners in the quarterfinal -is set to battle either No. 3 seed Daria Kasatkina or Madison Keys for a place in the Adelaide final.
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Navarro out but Pegula reaches thesemifinal
The second top-ranked American female tennis player had a better day at the office as the 2024 US Open finalist was 6-4 2-0 up on Ashlyn Krueger when the latter retired the match due to injury.
"To start the year, I definitely like playing an event. Who doesn't want to start off the year on a good note, too. This tournament is really tough. If I can do well here with the way the draw is, I feel like it will give me a lot of confidence going into AO," Pegula said.
In the Adelaide semifinal, the world No. 7 awaits the winner of the match between No. 6 seed Diana Shnaider and Yulia Putintseva.
For Pegula, making a deep Adelaide run is exactly what the doctor prescribed after she was forced to miss Brisbane last week.
