Navarro saves match point at Queen’s; Keys, Anisimova cruise

American women went 3-0 on Andy Murray Arena at the HSBC Championships on Wednesday.

A trio of the United States’ top players — Madison Keys, Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova — picked up victories on the center court at the prestigious Queen’s Club, clinching quarterfinal spots. Here’s how the day went down:

Navarro saves match point to outlast Haddad Maia: No. 3 seed Navarro pulled off a remarkable escape — with the unlikely help of an ailing spectator — to defeat Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the second round.

Haddad Maia dominated proceedings early on, serving strongly and volleying with panache, before Navarro began to find her range in the second set.  Serving down 5-4, the American saved a match point with a bold drop shot-pass combination, but in the ensuing tiebreak Haddad Maia still took a 4-2 lead — before play was paused due to medical treatment for the audience member.

On resumption, Haddad Maia’s form evaporated. Two consecutive double faults and three unforced errors later, she found herself in a deciding set. The Brazilian retreated into passive play, and Navarro wasted no time in imposing her own game. Trailing 4-3, Haddad Maia coughed up another costly double fault to lose serve, and Navarro successfully served out victory after 2 hours and 47 minutes.

The result was a measure of revenge for last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinalist, who had served for the match against Haddad Maia in Strasbourg three weeks ago before falling 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in 3 hours and 2 minutes.

“I’ve probably spent the most time on court with Bia of anyone on tour,” Navarro said in her on-court interview. “We play each other all the time, and it always goes three sets and comes down to the wire.”

The pair’s head-to-head is now level at three wins apiece. All five of their previous encounters had been on clay.

Anisimova sets all-American quarterfinal: Navarro will take on her countrywoman Anisimova in Friday’s quarterfinals. Following Navarro’s marathon on Andy Murray Arena, No. 8 seed Anisimova had a very different match, dismissing Britain’s Sonay Kartal 6-1, 6-3 in just 64 minutes.

Anisimova eases past Kartal into Queen’s Club quarterfinals

This second-round clash was between two players who posted brand new career-high rankings on Monday. World No. 50 Kartal came in on a high after beating Top 20 player Daria Kasatkina in this week’s opening round.

But World No. 15 Anisimova was on fire all day, denying the British No. 3 a second consecutive Top 20 win. Anisimova never faced break point in the first set, where she slammed 13 winners to just four unforced errors.

Kartal was able to break serve two times in the second set, but the Briton only held serve two times in the entire match. Anisimova dictated from start to finish, particularly from her backhand side, where she had 15 winners in total.

Anisimova can enter the quarterfinals with even more confidence — she is 3-0 against Navarro, including a win in Navarro’s hometown of Charleston this year.

Keys cruises past qualifier: The day on Andy Murray Arena ended with No. 2 seed Keys’ 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Anastasia Zakharova. Keys was down an early break at 3-1, but she reeled off 11 of the next 13 games to prevail.

The 23-year-old Zakharova picked up her first Top 25 win by toppling last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic in the first round. Zakharova is projected to make her Top 100 debut following her Queen’s Club success.

But today marked Zakharova’s first-ever meeting vs. a Top 10 player, and she saw her run come to an end. Once reigning Australian Open champion Keys got her teeth into the match, the American was on cruise control.

“It’s always a little challenging to play someone for the first time, especially on the grass when they’ve had matches,” Keys said on court, after her win. “The first couple of games, I just felt like I was trying to find my footing, and then once I did, I played really well.”

Keys has won three grass-court titles in her career (2014 Eastbourne, 2016 Brimingham and 2023 Eastbourne). Among active players, only Petra Kvitova (6) has won more WTA grass-court titles than Keys.