US Open
The all-American battle saw Navarro defeat Gauff and back up her Wimbledon win over the No. 3 seed as 23-time Grand Slam champ Serena Williams looked on.
ByDavid Kane
Published Sep 01, 2024
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NEW YORK—Emma Navarro sent defending champion Coco Gauff tumbling out of the 2024 US Open, scoring her second straight major victory over the No. 3 seed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Born in New York City, the No. 13 seed shook off a second-set dip and backed up her Wimbledon win over Gauff—who had won her last 10 matches at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but struck 19 double faults and 60 unforced errors—advancing in two hour and 12 minutes with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams presiding over Arthur Ashe Stadium.
US Open
Result
R16 - Women's Singles
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Gauff had been struggling for form ahead of her return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, her Wimbledon loss to Navarro kicking off a run of disappointing results at the Summer Olympic Games, the National Bank Open, and the Cincinnati Open, where she had been defending champion.
Still, she was back at the site of her Grand Slam breakthrough where, less than 12 months ago, she clinched an emotional major win at just 19 years old. Optimistic that her early Cincinnati exit had given her the opportunity to reset, Gauff closed in on the second week with strong scorelines against Varvara Gracheva and Tatjana Maria. But former world No. 3 Elina Svitolina proved her first big test on Friday, forcing Gauff to come back from a set down in the third round.
“Every match I've been going in, and I just don't want to leave it with any regrets,” she explained in her post-match press conference. “I want to truly leave it all out there on the court, because there are matches you go, and you play, and you lose, and you're, like, I mentally wasn't here or there.”
Navarro earned her fourth Top 10 victory of the season—and second over Gauff—to secure back-to-back Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in 2024.
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Previewing her match with Navarro, who is in the midst of a breakthrough season, Gauff did have regrets about their fourth-round encounter on Centre Court, one that saw her subsumed by negative energy and bow out in straight sets.
“With Emma, I feel like that match at Wimbledon I think I mentally just literally collapsed on the court,” she said. “I was very frustrated, and she played well. That was, I think to me, the best tennis she played that tournament.”
Navarro indeed lost her next match to eventual finalist Jasmine Paolini, but the 2021 NCAA champion has otherwise enjoyed an impressive rise, starting the year with her first WTA title in Hobart and reaching her first WTA 1000 semifinal last month at the National Bank Open.
Dropping just four games in her first two matches, Navarro was also pushed to the limits in her third round by an in-form Ukrainian, outlasting No. 19 seed Marta Kostyuk to book the US Open rematch with Gauff.
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With Serena Williams in attendance for a second consecutive day, Navarro earned three break points in Gauff’s opening serve game. After saving one on her own serve, broke the match wide open as the former world No. 2 hit a double fault to hand Navarro the lead. Gauff saved a set point on her serve two games later but was unable to find an opening on return and Navarro served out the set at love.
Under pressure early in the second set, Gauff fended off a break chance to hold on, letting out a roar that activated the Ashe Stadium crowd.
Navarro is notably less demonstrative on court, joking about her discomfort with showing emotion at the BNP Paribas Open back in March.
“It's a little bit unnatural for me to be in the spotlight and be playing on a court like that with, you know, a ton of fans and TVs and, yeah, just eyes on me,” she said fresh off her then-biggest career victory over Sabalenka. “It's not my natural way.”
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She thrived in the big-stage environment all the same, pressuring Gauff’s serve with a backhand winner in the seventh game and earning break point off another double fault. Tracking a well-struck dropshot from Gauff, Navarro put the reply away to put herself two games from the upset.
Gauff responded in inimitable fashion, breaking straight back and bringing the crowd to a fever pitch, reeling off three straight games to force a deciding set.
Navarro employed a mix of deft touch and all-court prowess as she sought to reset the momentum, and soon earned a 0-30 led when Gauff struck her 42nd unforced error of the match. Gauff saved two break points with more precise play only to lose the game behind her 11th and 12th double faults—the serving yips that had plagued her during the clay-cout swing back in full force.
A milestone at the home Grand Slam for Emma Navarro! pic.twitter.com/ORlKakCE57
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2024
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A missed backhand volley from Gauff put Navarro firmly in the lead and, again up 4-3, the 23-year-old made no mistake consolidating this time.
With autograph-seeking fans heading courtside anticipating the match's end, Gauff threw in more double faults and Navarro edged over the finish line with a strong return.
Standing between Navarro and her first major semifinal is former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, who surged into the last eight over Wang Yafan in straight sets.
