Coco Gauff’s reign as US Open champion is over.
In an echo of her defeat at the same stage of Wimbledon two months ago, the American world No 3 was upended in the fourth round by her compatriot Emma Navarro, the 13th seed, whose remarkable journey at Flushing Meadows continued with a tenacious 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win.
Before last week, Navarro had never even won a match in New York, much less squared off against the defending champion on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But the 23-year-old New Yorker ensured her debut on the sport’s biggest stage was a memorable one, living up to her “ice girl” nickname with a composed, intelligent performance that ruthlessly exposed the technical deficiencies in Gauff’s game.
In the city they famously named twice, as the old song goes, Navarro effectively earned victory twice, first when she stood within two games of repeating her straight-sets victory over Gauff on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, then when she regrouped after faltering in the face of a typically impassioned fightback from Gauff.
Yet Navarro was also the beneficiary of a woeful serving performance from Gauff, who hit 19 double faults and made a whopping 60 unforced errors in all. Twenty-nine of those mistakes came on the champion’s forehand, which disintegrated under the relentless pressure exerted by Navarro.
It was a far cry from the wonders of last summer, when Gauff won a first WTA 500 title in Washington, a maiden 1000 event in Cincinnati, and then became the first American teenager to triumph at a major since Serena Williams won at Flushing Meadows in 1999. She is hardly the first player to struggle under the weight of expectation that accompanies the defence of a first grand slam title, but the manner of her defeat exposed deeper problems.
It was not only the quantity of double faults that cost Gauff so dearly, but also their timing. In the sixth game, she hit two in a row from 15-30 to concede a break that would decide the first set. At 3-3, 30-30 in the second set, her eighth double fault of the evening gifted Navarro a break point that put the world No 12 within touching distance of victory. And although Gauff capitalised on a first hint of vulnerability from Navarro to wriggle out of that hole, worse was to follow in the decider, where she dropped serve in the third game with back-to-back double faults and never recovered. Three more in the final game completed her misery.
“I played well for the most part, I just didn’t take care of my serve,” said Gauff, who did not rule out the possibility of consulting a biomechanics expert, as Aryna Sabalenka did so successfully in similar circumstances. “That was the biggest difference, too many free points on my serve. I go down on my left side a lot on my serve, and it’s something I’m aware of. [But] it’s tough in the moment not to do it. I was just trying to commit to [the serve] and just stay calm.”
Martina Navratilova, working on commentary for Sky Sports, described Gauff’s continued struggles in an area of her game that has long come under scrutiny as an embarrassment.
“It’s one thing when you’re missing forehands or returns,” said Navratilova, an 18-time grand slam champion in singles. “The opponent’s in control, you’re reacting. But missing serves, when you’re in control – it’s embarrassing. Serve should be a plus, or at least neutral. It should not be a minus. It feeds off into the rest of your game.”
The accuracy of Navratilova’s analysis was reflected in the number of errors Gauff made off the forehand, an area that Navarro targeted from the outset. Time and again the world No 3 failed to get her weight through the shot, her extreme grip and tendency to fall off the ball leading to numerous shanks and overspun balls that nosedived into the net. Gauff’s coach, Brad Gilbert, urged her to go high to Navarro’s backhand, yet the tactic had little effect, even when the 20-year-old was able to implement it.
Navarro’s victory was about more than simply exploiting her opponent’s weaknesses, however. She neutralised Gauff’s serve with the quality and consistency of her returning, taking the ball early when she could, blocking it when occasion demanded. She absorbed and redirected Gauff’s power in the baseline exchanges, manipulating the ball intelligently and maintaining immaculate length. And down the stretch, as Gauff fought to retain the title, Navarro retained her composure and her aggression, relentlessly taking on her shots, playing to win rather than relying on the champion’s frailties.
“There’s a different energy playing on Ashe, playing someone like Coco,” said Navarro. “There’s a ton of energy and passion and emotion out there which I don’t show, but I definitely feel it. It wasn’t easy today. I wasn’t able to close it out in two sets, so just really wanted to take that moment on in the third set, just really aggressively and confidently.”
Navarro’s reward is a quarter-final appointment with Paula Badosa, whose renascent summer run continued with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Wang Yafan of China. The 26-year-old Spaniard, a former world No 2 whose ranking plummeted after she suffered a stress fracture in her back last season, won her first title in more than two years last month in Washington before reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati.
“A few months ago, I was thinking to quit this sport because I stopped believing in myself and my injury wasn’t responding,” said Badosa after reaching the second major quarter-final of her career. “To be back [at this level] is a dream come true.”
Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka moved into the last eight with a comfortable win over her former doubles partner Elise Mertens. The Belarusian second seed, defeated by Gauff in last year’s final, won 6-2, 6-4 and will next face Qinwen Zheng, the Olympic champion, who defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2.