Story of the match
Navarro had won just three matches in five previous Grand Slam main draw appearances but had not dropped a set on her run to the second week, including back-to-back wins over former finalist Sara Errani and 14th seed Madison Keys.
Crucially, she had taken down the world No.2 in their only previous meeting in the Indian Wells fourth round.
This though, in faster conditions and with more at stake on a stage Sabalenka is very much at home on, was an entirely different matter.
As expected, Sabalenka’s weight of shot was telling from the outset. A wrong-footing backhand down the line lifted her to 4-0 in under 20 minutes and she required only 11 minutes more to roll through the first set, which she snatched on a confident drop-shot winner.
Navarro, the 2019 girls’ singles runner-up, loves hitting to corners on her terms, but that was an uphill battle against a player dictating and barely putting a foot wrong.