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Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Emma Navarro vs Caty McNally — 3-6 6-2 6-3
 Emma Navarro✓ | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Caty McNally | 6 | 2 | 3 |
Final · Wednesday, September 2, 2026 · Round of 64
Result
Emma Navarro needed 2hr 46min on the Grandstand to get past Caty McNally in an all-American second round, and for a set it looked as though McNally would repeat the win she took off Navarro at 's-Hertogenbosch in June. McNally won the first three games and the set 6-3, Navarro losing serve only once but making 15 unforced errors to her opponent's seven. Navarro then took five games in a row to lead 5-0 in the second and closed it 6-2. The decider turned on traded breaks — Navarro for 3-1, McNally straight back, Navarro again for 4-2 — before she served it out at 6-3 on her first match point. The totals stayed close: 106 points to 98, 26 winners to 18, 39 unforced errors to 37, with McNally converting only three of the 13 break points she made. It was Navarro's third win in four meetings. No narrative report of the match had appeared by Wednesday evening.
Emma NavarroRows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 women's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents with form behind them rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
What we know now
Court: Grandstand
Match length: 2:46
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
What I said beforehand
The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.
The closest match in this batch, and the two ratings separate them by six points. They have played three times and Navarro leads 2-1 — including this exact round at this exact tournament a year ago, which she won 6-2 6-1 — but McNally took the most recent meeting on grass in June, from a set down. Their openers went opposite ways. Navarro survived a rain-interrupted 2 hours 46 minutes against Lois Boisson, 7-6(6) 6-7(1) 6-3, facing fifteen aces and taking four of eleven break points; McNally beat the qualifier Anouk Koevermans 7-5 6-1 in 102 minutes on a day when her serve produced no aces at all and six double faults, and she still won 74% of her first-serve points. Navarro is the 26th seed and a semi-finalist here in 2024, which is the strongest single line on either résumé; McNally is ranked 38 places lower and is having the better season, 24-20 to 20-18. Two Americans who have known each other since juniors, on a court neither will be favoured on by the crowd. Call it Navarro by a set.
The case for Emma Navarro
55% to winNavarro reached the semi-finals here two years ago and won this same round against this same opponent a year ago, 6-2 6-1. She has just come through the hardest match either of them played — three sets and two tiebreaks against a player who served fifteen aces — which is a better test than a straight-sets win over a qualifier. She is seeded; McNally is not.
The case for Caty McNally
45% to winMcNally is 24-20 for the season to Navarro's 20-18, is rated a fraction higher than her on hard courts, and beat her the last time they played, coming from a set down at 's-Hertogenbosch in June. Her opener cost her an hour less than Navarro's and she won 74% of her first-serve points without hitting an ace, which is a returning-and-holding profile that travels. Navarro has needed 2 hours 46 minutes and a deciding set to get here.
Both cases written 2026-09-01, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
My locked pick: Emma Navarro to advance ✓ RIGHT
“The seed, the semi-final pedigree here and the same win in the same round a year ago — in the closest match on this card.”
Locked 2026-09-01 01:20 UTC — rendered verbatim from the pick ledger; never a fresher, hedged version
Tale of the tape
Emma NavarroCaty McNallyPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-09-02.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Storylines
- Navarro leads the head-to-head 2-1 and won this same round at this same tournament a year ago, 6-2 6-1.
- McNally won the most recent meeting, 4-6 6-0 6-4 on grass at 's-Hertogenbosch in June 2026.
- Navarro needed 2 hours 46 minutes and a deciding set to beat Lois Boisson 7-6(6) 6-7(1) 6-3, in a match rain suspended on Sunday night.
- McNally beat the qualifier Anouk Koevermans 7-5 6-1 without hitting an ace, winning 74% of her first-serve points.
- Navarro was a US Open semi-finalist in 2024; McNally's best here is the third round in 2020.
Head to head
Navarro leads 2-1. She won this same round here a year ago 6-2 6-1 and their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2023; McNally won the most recent, 4-6 6-0 6-4 on grass at 's-Hertogenbosch in June 2026.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Court & schedule: Grandstand, Wednesday 2 September. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before; this one is on the board. (Official US Open order of play, as of 2026-09-02)
Weather: Sunday — the men's final, and the last match of the fortnight — is 78°F with showers and thunderstorms 95% likely, the wettest day of the two weeks and the one day that cannot be pushed back. Ashe closes its roof and plays on. It clears overnight: 20% Sunday night, 20% Monday, then dry and sunny from Tuesday. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-09-13)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.