It was a two-year contract. A plan, of sorts, between Emma Navarro and Peter Ayers.

She had just turned pro after two seasons at Virginia, winning the NCAA singles title her first year and then returning in an attempt to orchestrate an encore, and the pair agreed to a roadmap that — if executed properly — would limit the highest of highs and the lowest of lows that inevitably dot a tennis career.

After a successful week, it would be easy for Navarro to think “this is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” Ayers, the longtime coach of the New York-born world No. 12 for now, said Tuesday.

The inverse could easily happen, too. So instead, they focused on the day-by-day strides for two years to give her some “runway” before evaluating her overarching results.

If she got her “ears pinned back” by a player ranked No. 250 in the world, those thoughts could spiral to the point of second-guessing the decision to leave college early for professional tennis. They focused on the day-by-day for two years.

On the measurable — yet incremental — strides that could eventually merge and create the version of the player they both envisioned Navarro becoming.

That two-year mark arrived in June, Navarro said Tuesday.

Neither she nor Ayers even acknowledged it. She had already surpassed her own expectations by slowly, and then rather quickly, climbing the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, and that was followed by a run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.

On Thursday, she’ll face Aryna Sabalenka in the U.S. Open semifinals with the chance to inch closer to her first Grand Slam title.

So if Navarro’s tennis career can be split into two-year intervals — two years at Virginia, her first two-year pact on the tour that ended three months ago — to this point, the earliest months of the 23-year-old’s latest era has flashed signs of an imminent breakthrough.

“I feel like the fact that she’s just never skipped any steps, I think, has really prepared her for these moments and to be in these big moments and on these big stages,” Sara O’Leary, Navarro’s head coach at UVA, told The Post. “And I think a big reason is because of the preparation that they’ve put in and the way that they’ve gone about it.”

When Navarro arrived at Virginia, O’Leary worked with her to add variety — the slices, the drop shots, the serves — and helped Navarro adjust to playing doubles regularly, too.

That helped her volleys improve. Navarro went 51-3 in singles in two years at Virginia, losing just one match her first year, but she also collected a 33-17 record in doubles. The same year she won the NCAA singles title, Navarro advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA doubles tournament with Rosie Johanson.