Defending champion Gauff crashes out after US Open horror show

Coco Gauff joined Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open scrapheap on Sunday, as the defending champion crashed out to Emma Navarro in a blizzard of mistakes.

Third-ranked Gauff slumped to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 fourth round defeat on the back of 19 double faults and 60 unforced errors.

The 20-year-old’s exit means Serena Williams remains the last woman to successfully defend the US Open title back in 2014.

“I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane,” said American Navarro, who will face Spain’s Paula Badosa for a place in the semi-finals.

“This is the city I was born in and it feels so special to be playing here. Coco is an amazing player. I have a ton of respect for her and I know she’s going to come back here and win this thing again.”

Badosa had earlier dispatched China’s Wang Yafan in a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, the first two games took 17 minutes. Badosa saved all eight break points she faced.

“It was so humid I thought I was going to die,” said the 26-year-old New Yorker. “I knew she was tough but I’m tougher.”

Gauff’s loss was another body blow to the season’s final grand slam event, after defending men’s champion Djokovic was knocked out in the third round in his earliest exit since 2006.

Fellow crowd-pleaser Alcaraz, the 2022 winner in New York and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, was stunned in the second round.

Navarro beat Gauff at Wimbledon in July and was dominant again on Sunday from the outset.

The 23-year-old broke for 4-2 in the first set and sealed the opener in the ninth game where one rally stretched to 27 shots.

Navarro stretched to a 4-3 lead in the second set with another break after Gauff had committed her eighth double fault of the tie.

However, Gauff, who had dropped the first set in her third round win against Elina Svitolina, hit back to reel off the next three games and level the match.

It was just a brief respite for the champion as she served up three more double faults in the third game of the decider to slip a crucial break down again.

The night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium concludes with China’s Zheng Qinwen facing Donna Vekic of Croatia in a rematch of the Olympic Games final.

Zheng has unleashed a tournament-leading 39 aces over three rounds at this year’s US Open.