"Let’s keep it rolling": Emma Navarro excited to face Amanda Anisimova in Charleston Open quarterfinal

America’s Emma Navarro has revealed that she is ‘excited’ to face Amanda Anisimova at the Charleston Open. The 23-year-old cemented her spot in the quarterfinal of the event after beating fellow countrywoman Ashlyn Krueger with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

That victory sets up a mouthwatering clash in the last eight of the ongoing WTA 500 event with Anisimova, who secured her spot in the last eight after beating Yulia Putintseva in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

While talking to the media right after the match, Navarro stated that she is excited to face a player of Anisimova’s quality. “I’m excited,” she said. “She plays a really big game. Strong serve. Strong from the baseline. I’ll try to push back against that. Excited to come out here & play in front of you guys again. It’s been a blast. Let’s keep it rolling.”

While talking to the press after the match, Navarro admitted Anisimova is a ‘tough’ competitor. "Amanda is really tough," she said. "Big serve, big groundstrokes. Kind of similar, I would say, to the way Ashlyn plays. So, game plan is probably going to stay pretty similar, just try to be really strong and aggressive on returns and maybe serve a little bit better."

Navarro also talked about the advantage of playing on the home soil, in the home town. She also highlighted one drawback of playing in the home town that players must stay ‘focus’. "There’s just something about being at home, which is normally our comfort place," she said. "It's the place we go when tournaments are over, and it's a place we can go to kind of de-stress and regroup and just feel the most comfortable and natural. So being home and then having a tournament at home in that normal place of comfort and relaxed quality is definitely weird. ... Definitely have to remind myself when I go to sleep at night, OK, I'm in a tournament. Like, gotta stay focused. Can’t totally relax."