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, 19 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.
Gauff gave away the first set break with a horrible service game and, despite a rebellion at the end of the second set, repeated the feat in the final set, letting the match slip away with a final game that was wasted with three double faults.
“I lower myself too much on my left side when serving, I know that, but it’s difficult to correct in the middle of a match,” she regretted.
A hard blow and a step backwards in the progression of the young American, a teenage prodigy who became a Grand Slam winner last year at the age of 19 in New York, who has struggled to confirm her form over time this season.
– “Crazy” –
After two good first Grand Slam victories (semi-finals in Australia and at Roland-Garros), Gauff has been struggling since being eliminated at Wimbledon in July in the last 16, also due to Navarro.
She then left the Paris Olympics at the same stage in tears, before losing in the 8th round of the WTA 1000 in Toronto and in the 2nd round of the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati in August.
“We have to put it into perspective, many players would have liked to have had that summer, to reach the last 16, to take part in the Olympic Games, to be the flag bearer. I have ambitions for a completely different level, so it’s disappointing, but I’m not going to beat myself up,” she pointed out.
After the tournament, Gauff will drop down the rankings and will be 6th at best, going in the opposite direction of her compatriot Emma Navarro (23 years old), who should enter the top 10.
“It’s crazy to reach the quarter-finals after two first-round eliminations, in the city where I was born,” Navarro said at the stadium microphone, having already equalled her best result in a Major (quarter-final at Wimbledon in July).
Navarro will face in the quarter-finals the Spanish Paula Badosa, former world No. 2, who earlier dominated the Chinese 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.
A journey that is all the more remarkable given that Badosa struggles with chronic back pain.
“A few months ago, I was thinking about retiring. So to have this great run here is a dream,” said the 26-year-old.
Beaten by Gauff last year in the final, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd) easily dominated Belgian Elise Mertens (35th) 6-2, 6-4. She will face world number 7, Zheng Qinwen, in the quarter-finals.
In a repeat of the Olympic final, the young Chinese player once again got the better of the Croatian Donna Vekic (24th) 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-2, in the middle of the night: finishing at 2:15 a.m., it is also the latest match in the history of the US Open for women.
– Dimitrov the experienced –
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 nerves gnawed at Rublev.
The Russian turned the game around, but only until the start of the fifth set.
“I just had to be patient,” said Dimitrov, who sees his “experience” (14th consecutive US Open, oldest player still in the running) as the key to the match.
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), the man who defeated Novak Djokovic, in the night session.
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.
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