Emma Navarro soars back into Top 30 after winning first title in 15 months in Strasbourg

American Emma Navarro made a welcome return to the WTA winner’s circle in Strasbourg on Saturday afternoon, capturing her first title in 15 months—as well as the equal-biggest title of her career—at the WTA 500-level clay-court event.

And she did it in style, too, battling past Victoria Mboko in three sets, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, for her first Top 10 win of the year.

After, Navarro had kind words for the 19-year-old world No. 9.

“I want to congratulate Victoria on a great week,” she said. “You made it really tough on me today, and you would've beaten me 0 and 0 when I was your age, so you’re doing a lot of good stuff.

“Keep doing it.”

A former Top 10 player, Navarro has struggled to find her form in recent months, falling out of the Top 20 in March and then missing Miami, Charleston and Madrid due to health struggles.

She then fell out of the Top 30 a few weeks ago, dipping as low as No. 39 going into Strasbourg, her lowest ranking since 2023.

But with her latest title—her first since winning another WTA 500 event on hard courts in Merida, Mexico last March—the former world No. 8 soars back into the Top 30, from No. 39 to No. 25.

It may have been just a week late to snag her a seed at Roland Garros, but the American will surely go into the second Grand Slam event of the season with all kinds of confidence now.

She thanked her team afterwards for sticking with her.

“They’ve been with me through thick and thin. It’s been a little bit of a rocky year and a half or so, but I think we’ve put in a lot of really good work, and thank you guys for sticking by me and being incredibly dedicated. You make it fun and worth it. Every day’s a journey and we’re always getting a little bit better.”

Mboko wasn’t the only top player Navarro beat this week—she also took out Top 20 player Iva Jovic in the second round.

And she had a big personal win in the quarters, too, battling past Zhang Shuai—whom she had never beaten in three previous meetings—in a nail-biter, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Zhang not only won the first set but served for it twice in the second set, at 5-4 and 6-5, and was two points away in the tie-break.

Navarro will open her campaign at Roland Garros against Indonesia’s Janice Tjen, with either No. 17 seed Jovic or Alexandra Eala potentially up next in the second round.