Does this count as losing in your own backyard? Three weeks ago, Emma Navarro suffered a straight-sets defeat by compatriot Jessica Pegula at the Cincinnati Open.There are few obvious ties binding Navarro to the rust belt of Ohio: she was born in New York City and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, before studying Arts and Science at the University of Virginia.But, for the world No 27, the Cincinnati Open stands out from the other events on her summer swing – because her father owns the tournament.On Tuesday night, Navarro and Pegula face off once more. They meet for a place in the semifinals of their home Grand Slam; it is the first all-American women’s quarterfinal at the US Open since Serena and Venus Williams collided in 2015.It is also one of the more intriguing match-ups of this fortnight because both Navarro and Pegula are the daughters of billionaires, the heiresses to business empires worth a combined $15billion.Navarro’s father Ben, the son of late college football coach Frank Navarro, began his career on Wall Street before making his fortune in credit cards and debt collection. In recent years, the co-founder of Beemok has reportedly spent more than $300million to buy two tennis tournaments: the Cincinnati and Charleston Opens. His net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $3.2billion. Jessica Pegula, the No 3 seed, will face compatriot Emma Navarro in the US Open quarterfinals Both Navarro and Pegula are the daughters of billionaires and heiresses to business empires Pegula, left, with her family after her parents Terry and Kim bought the Buffalo Bills in 2014 Ben Navarro began his career on Wall Street and is estimated by Forbes to be worth $3.2billionTerry Pegula, meanwhile, is thought to be worth nearly $12billion. He grew rich through oil and gas – he founded East Resources in 1983 with a loan of $7,500 before selling most of its assets in 2010 for nearly $5bn.Together with his wife, Kim, Pegula now invests in sports teams. They own the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and in 2014 they beat groups spearheaded by Donald Trump and Bon Jovi to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills for $1.4bn.It all makes the US Open prize pot – which guarantees $1.45million to the winner of Tuesday’s quarterfinal – seem like pocket change. But for Pegula and Navarro, victory would take them one step closer to the biggest reward of all: a first Grand Slam title.Before the two Americans step on to court, it is easy to be cynical, to dismiss them as two rich kids propelled toward the top by the bank of mom and dad, to paint their success as proof that it pays to be wealthy in a sport that – for ambitious youngsters – can be cripplingly expensive.It is tempting, too, to suggest that this matchup belongs at a tournament where ticket prices are skyrocketing, where influencers have converted Arthur Ashe into a catwalk, where on Monday, fans formed long lines outside pop-ups offering yoghurt, coffee and photo opportunities while, on some courts, row upon row of seats remained empty.But it would also be unfair. As Pegula, the No 3 seed and a 2024 finalist at Flushing Meadows, told Daily Mail Sport a couple of summers ago: ‘It’s funny when people assume that I fly private everywhere, or that I have had a chauffeur driving me around since I was five… I grew up pretty normal, and a lot of that [her family’s wealth] didn’t happen to me until I was already older and playing.’My goal since I was six or seven was to be No 1 in the world… I was just a normal kid growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, taking lessons after school.’That hasn’t shielded Pegula, 32, from allegations that, to win a Grand Slam, she ‘needs [a] dynamic that family billions can’t buy.’ ‘I don’t love being referred to as whoever with however much money’s daughter,’ Navarro said Pegula, a 2024 finalist in New York, has said: ‘I was just a normal kid growing up in Pittsburgh’As for Navarro? It did no harm, of course, that her father bought a tennis complex just for his children. Or that he arranged for ‘whatever [she] needed’ in terms of coaching and training. Or that he is, as Navarro once explained, ‘probably the smartest guy I know’ who ‘sent [her] on this journey’ and has ‘dropped a lot of knowledge and wisdom on my siblings and I over the years.’ But? ‘I didn’t grow up being handed things,’ she told Tatler. ‘We grew up in a sort of traditional way. We’d get up at 6 am on a Saturday morning and go play tennis… growing up it was a priority that we learnt toughness and we learnt work ethic and how to be intentional and purposeful and live productive lives.’So I don’t love being referred to as whoever with however much money’s daughter.’Who can blame her? The 25-year-old has been grinding at this sport since fourth grade. There are few shortcuts on the professional tennis circuit and, at the end of 2018, Navarro was ranked No 763 in the world. Within six years, she had cracked the world’s top 10. In 2024, for the first and only time, she reached the US Open semifinals.Earlier this year, however, the American took two months off amid a reported battle with hypothyroidism, which occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. Symptoms can include fatigue and weight gain, and Navarro faced cruel comments over her appearance.’I haven’t been feeling my best for probably a couple of years now—a year and a half, maybe,’ she told Bounces back in May. ‘I felt like I could play through it and just continue playing and it’d be fine, but then it kind of got to a point where I felt like I’ve got to just stay home and focus on my health.’Thankfully, Navarro is back on court and she can reach a second Grand Slam semifinal with victory over Pegula. In China, some supporters have christened Pegula ‘Big Rich’ and Navarro ‘Second Rich’But her record against the No 3 seed currently reads: won none, lost four. And among some fans, she will always play second-fiddle to her compatriot. In China, supporters have christened Pegula (career prize money $26.15m) ‘Big Rich’ and Navarro ($6.68m) ‘Second Rich.’As Zheng Qinwen, who beat Iga Swiatek on Monday, previously told Pegula: ‘In China, some people wonder why such a rich girl got into tennis… they say that because it’s an extremely demanding sport. Like: “Why not just live a high-society life?”‘On Tuesday night, everyone inside Arthur Ashe Stadium will be grateful that both Navarro and Pegula resisted that temptation.