Emma Navarro’s Oakland Dream Ends in Round One, Sparks a Day of Upheaval
5 January 2026
Round One Roundup
The American Emma Navarro exited the Oakland Classic after a first-round defeat, losing to Britain's Francesca Jones in three sets: 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, on Monday. It opened a busy day of upsets.
After stunning the tournament's second seed, the Briton will meet Austrian Sinja Kraus in the next round, who defeated her compatriot Julia Grabher 6-3, 6-3.
And continuing the day of upsets, eighth seed Beaton Sterns bowed out in the first round to Spain's Kaitlyn Cuifido, 6-2, 7-5, on Monday afternoon.
She will meet Belgian Sofia Kostoulas in the second round, Kostoulas having beaten American Whitney Osuigui 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
American Eva Jovic, the tournament's third seed, rallied from a set down to defeat Czech Gabriela Knutson 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.
In the second round, another Czech, Sara Bejlek, knocked out Hungarian Panna Udvardy 7-5, 6-1.
In first-round matches, Chinese Wang Chenyu barely defeated American Katie McNally 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
She then advanced to a second-round meeting with Mexican Renata Zarazua, who ousted American Sloane Stephens 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
Upsets like this keep early rounds spicy, reminding us tennis still loves a good plot twist for fans everywhere. Two lighthearted truths: first, if the ball had a sense of humor, it’d be roaring with every return; second, today’s scoreboard needs a vacation after all those dramatic comebacks.
Two punchlines to cap the day: punchline 1: Today’s upsets hit their marks—the scoreboard finally found its sense of humor. punchline 2: If tennis is a sport of inches, apparently the inches brought a sniper’s precision to the net.
