Navarro, Gauff are on the numbers

INDIAN WELLS — Only a number. So said Emma Navarro, who ranks No. 23 in women’s tennis after Wednesday upsetting Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2.

Only a number. So accepts Coco Gauff about the birthday that Wednesday ended her teenage years.

Tennis is all about numbers. No matter how old you are or how young.

The BNP Paribas Open rolled on as finally, the clouds rolled by. Sunshine in the desert, the Coachella Valley, and success for American women, expected in the case of the birthday girl, Gauff, now 20; probably unexpected with the onetime college star, Navarro.

Emma, 22, only a few months away from an NCAA Championship while at Virginia, won arguably the biggest match of her career, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, over Sabalenka, who in February became a Grand Slam champion with a victory in the Australian Open.

Gauff ranks No. 3, but she’s been the No. 1 star in America since her U.S. Open title in September doing TV interviews and getting a huge spread in Vogue magazine. Despite the glamor and glory, Coco comes at you as unpretentiously as, well, a cup of cocoa.

 In her quarterfinal match Wednesday she blitzed Belgian doubles specialist Elise Mertens, 6-0, 6-2.

“Finally got a win on my birthday, which was great,” Gauff said without emotion. “Yeah, I have nothing to say about the match. It was pretty straightforward, and hopefully, I can continue the good tennis.”

That the numbers seem to be more than nothing, but it’s her opinion that counts.

Navarro, understandably, was more emotional after finishing what might become her breakthrough match.

“Yeah, feeling excited,” said Navarro. “I’ve worked really hard over the years just to get to this point,”  

That hardly separates her from the other dozens of female players. The separation is when that work pays off, as this is much against Sabalenka, the powerful Russian. This time it did.

“I guess I wasn’t comfortable with my ranking,” said Navarro. “There’s not an opportunity for that. When I was younger I played in a way where I wanted to work myself into points and work myself into matches, and kind of just react to what my opponent was doing, kind of take a step back, OK, how are they going to play? But at this level, there is no time for that. You are striking or getting struck.”

She was striking. So was Gauff, although for Coco she scores like it was business as usual. Which is exactly what it turned out to be.

In this numbers game. The American ladies had the perfect ones. Or should that be 6-1?

Rybakina, Sabalenka shine on a gray day at the BNP

INDIAN WELLS — The women finally got their time in the, well if there was any sun at the BNP Paribas Open, until it came late disguised as a big, gray blob of clouds for the Sunday final.

Which is yet another reminder you don’t know what you’ll get in weather or sports.

Aryna Sabalenka had never lost to Elena Rybakina. True they had played only four times, but perfection is perfection. And this winter Sabalenka virtually didn’t lose to anyone. 

She was an impressive 17-1 overall, a figure which would have made the good, old Warriors and eccentric New England Patriots envious.

You know where we’re going on this one, of course, Rybakina beat Sabalenka. It took a while, 2 hours, 3 minutes, and the score was 7-6 (11), 6-4. But now Rybakina has a victory over her nemesis as well as something no less significant, the 2022 Wimbledon title.

It definitely went right for her. And now the 24-year-old Sabalenka has the realization that when everything is going her way, as she observed Friday when the semifinal was delayed by an electrical problem at Indian Wells, it all could go wrong.

Everything definitely went well for Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final that followed the ladies’ match. The day brightened, although it didn’t make you reach for the sunscreen, and the 19-year-old Alcaraz of Spain thumped Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, 6-3, 6-2.

The victory elevated Alcaraz to first in the men’s ranking. Sabalenka, the Belarusian, was aiming for the same position in the women’s, but the loss to Rybakina will keep her second until further competition.

 “A tough loss,” conceded Sabalenka, “but she played unbelievable tennis. I would say I didn’t serve great.

A big failing when the best part of your game is the serve.   

“She deserves it,” said Sabalenka, a good sport in a sport infamous for bad actors and actresses. “She’s a great player. Hopefully next time I will do a little bit better.”  

At that level, they’re all great players, all too capable of knocking you down and out. Only two days earlier, Iga Swiatek was beaten by Rybakina.

Tennis is a pastime of mobility and instability. One match you’re getting all the bounces and the net cord drops, the next you’re getting in a car to the airport. Only a few days ago Iga Swiatek, the ladies' top player (according to rankings), was moving past one opponent after another, unbeatable.  

Until Friday’s semis when she was defeated by the lady who was on her way to the trophy.  

The 23-year-old Rybakina was born in Moscow, as in Russia, but lists her home country as Kazakhstan. Her racquets don’t seem to mind.

“The important thing is the first set,” said Rybakina, emphasizing the obvious. She was down 4-2 quickly, but forced a tiebreaker that went, well if not as long as Isner-Nicolas Mahut in 2010 Wimbledon territory, but plenty long.

“We both had chances. In the end, it went my way.”

It turned out to be the winning way.