Melbourne: Emma Navarro said she was just "staying alive" after winning a fourth consecutive three-set marathon to set up an Australian Open quarter-final against Iga Swiatek. The American eighth seed eventually beat Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in 2hr 40min after blowing three match points in the second set. "They played that song that goes 'staying alive' at 5-4 in the third set," said Navarro, who created an astonishing 25 break points only to see her Russian opponent save 16 of them.
"And I kind of felt like that was really appropriate this whole tournament," added Navarro, the US Open semi-finalist last year who is into her maiden quarter-final at Melbourne Park. "I've just been staying alive, so hoping to continue on that train." Navarro has spent more than 10 hours on court this year in Melbourne in her four three-setters, five-and-half-hours more than second seed Swiatek who has dropped only 11 games in the tournament.
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