Ranking Reaction

Emma Navarro breaks into Top 10 after reaching first Grand Slam semifinal at US Open

And the good news for American tennis doesn’t end there, with Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula making big moves, too.

Published Sep 09, 2024

The Break: Sinner and Sabalenka win 2024 US Open

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Americans did very well at the US Open this year, and with that, a number of them make notable moves up the rankings this week.

Perhaps the most notable ranking move of them all comes from Emma Navarro, who rises from No. 12 to No. 8—her Top 10 debut—after reaching the first Grand Slam semifinal of her career.

She was No. 57 a year ago, but has broken into a new ranking class every few months since then, and now cracks the ultimate elite.

NAVARRO’S 12-MONTH RISE FROM NO. 57 TO NO. 8:
~ Top 50 debut in September 2023 [after SFs in San Diego]
~ Top 40 debut in November 2023 [after SFs of WTA 125K in Midland]
~ Top 30 debut in January 2024 [after first WTA title in Hobart]
~ Top 20 debut in March 2024 [after QFs of Indian Wells]
~ Top 10 debut in September 2024 [after SFs of US Open]

And having never been past the second round of a major before this year, the 23-year-old Navarro has improved her career-best major performance at every single major this year—she reached her first third round at the Australian Open, her first fourth round at Roland Garros, her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon and now, in front of her home crowd, her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open.

Navarro took out defending champion Coco Gauff en route to the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka.

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Navarro is one of three American women in the Top 10 this week, and the other two actually switch spots. Coco Gauff dips from No. 3 to No. 6 after falling in the fourth round of her US Open title defense (to Navarro), while Jessica Pegula rises from No. 6 to No. 3 after reaching the first Grand Slam final of her career in Flushing Meadows. It’s a return to the Buffalo native’s career-high.

Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz also makes a big move on the ATP rankings this week, jumping from No. 12 to No. 7 after reaching the first Grand Slam final of his career at the US Open—he’s now two spots from the career-high ranking of No. 5 he set last year.

Fritz may have finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner, but he achieved something no other American man had in 15 years—reach a Grand Slam final.

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A few spots up from Fritz, Alexander Zverev rises from No. 4 to No. 2—switching places with Novak Djokovic—after reaching the 13th Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career in New York.

It’s a return to the career-high the German set in 2022.

And a little further down on the ATP rankings, a few breakthroughs: Great Britain’s Jack Draper rises from No. 25 to No. 20, his Top 20 debut, after reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal; Portugal’s Nuno Borges moves up from No. 34 to No. 30, his Top 30 debut, after reaching the fourth round in Flushing Meadows; and American Brandon Nakashima jumps 10 spots from No. 50 to No. 40, his Top 40 debut, after also reaching the round of 16 in New York.

And if the quality of player Nakashima beat to get to the second week is anything to go by, he might have more debuts on the horizon—he recorded the ninth and 10th Top 20 wins of his career along the way, defeating Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti.

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