A bolt from the blue in New York with the elimination of Coco Gauff in the last 16, on the night of Sunday to Monday. In the men’s race, Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe advance to the quarter-finals.
Gauff, Fallen Queen
American Coco Gauff (world number 3), the public’s darling and defending champion, lost in the 8th finals of the US Open tennis tournament against her compatriot Emma Navarro (12th) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 on Sunday in New York.
Sixty unforced errors, nineteen double faults. The numbers are as dizzying as the stands of the imposing Arthur Ashe Stadium, the flagship of Flushing Meadows, aboard which Coco Gauff sank on Sunday.
Navarro will face former world No. 2 Paula Badosa of Spain in the quarter-finals, who earlier in the day beat China’s Yafan Wang (80th) 6-1, 6-2, for her first quarter-final at the US Open, a level she had not reached in a Grand Slam since 2021.
Sabalenka sees her painting open
Beaten by Gauff last year in the final, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) easily dominated Belgian Elise Mertens (35th) 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
In the next round, the Belarusian will face either the Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen (7th) or the silver medalist of the Paris Games, the Croatian Donna Vekic (24th), a round of 16 scheduled later in the evening on Sunday (Monday morning in France)
Dimitrov to the experiment
In the men’s competition, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (9th) reached the quarter-finals of the US Open for the first time since 2019 thanks to his victory against Russian Andrey Rublev (6th) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3.
Dimitrov, 33, calmly dominated the first two sets during which the demons of nervousness gnawed at Rublev (ear-piercing screams from the front row crowd, self-slapping that would knock out a bear).
In the next round, he will face American Frances Tiafoe (20th) in the quarter-finals for the third year in a row after defeating Australian Alexei Popyrin (28th) in the night session, who beat Novak Djokovic in the third round.
Fritz gets the upper hand on Ruud and dreams big
Another local, Taylor Fritz (12th), put an end to the run of 2022 finalist Casper Ruud (8th), whom he beat 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, and sees a tough quarter-final looming against the German Alexander Zverev (4th), who defeated the American Brandon Nakashima (50th) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
All the results of the night
8th final (men’s singles)
Taylor Fritz (USA/N.12) bat Casper Ruud (NOR/N.8) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
Alexander Zverev (GER/N.4) bat Brandon Nakashima (USA) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL/N.9) vs. Andrey Rublev (RUS/N.6) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3
Frances Tiafoe (USA/N.20) bat Alexei Popyrin (AUS/N.28) 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-3
8th final (women’s singles)
Paula Badosa (ESP/N.26) beat Wang Yafan (CHN) 6-1, 6-2
Emma Navarro (USA/N.13) bat Coco Gauff (USA/N.3) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Aryna Sabalenka (BLR/N.2) def Elise Mertens (BEL/N.33) 6-2, 6-4
Qinwen Zheng (CHN/N.7) faces Donna Vekic (CRO/N.24). Of course.
