New York | Navarro dethrones Gauff to face Badosa in Last 8

2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff was thwarted in her title defence on Sunday by her American compatriot Emma Navarro, who moves into the quarter-finals where she will meet Paula Badosa, a 4th-round winner over Wang Yafan.

I think I’m on the radar. In my own head I’ll probably always be under the radar just because I don’t give social media and that kind of stuff too much attention. I thought being on the radar would be more of a scary thing than it actually is. Now that I think I’m here, it’s not so bad. Emma Navarro

Gauff was hard pressed by Navarro in the second day session match on Arthur Ashe Stadium, and unravelled in a blizzard of mistakes, many contributed by her ailing serve.

The World No 3 slumped to a 6-3 4-6 6-3 defeat on the back of 19 double-faults and 60 unforced errors, leaving Serena Williams as the last woman to successfully defend the US Open title, in 2014.

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

“I lost in the first round the last two years, and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane,” said Navarro, who will face Spain’s Badosa for a place in the semi-finals. “This is the city I was born in, and it feels so special to play here.”

The 23-year-old broke for 4-2 in the first set, and sealed the opener in the 9th game in which one rally stretched to 27 shots.

Gauff recovered from a break down in the second to level the match, but it was a brief respite as she served up 3 more double-faults to slip a crucial break down again in the decider.

“I gave it my all,” said Gauff. “Obviously there were things execution-wise, where I was, like, I wish I could serve better. I think if I did that, it would have been a different story.”

Gauff added that she had no regrets about her US Open, at least emotionally.

She began the year by winning a title in January and made the semi-finals at both the Australian and French opens.

She also advanced to the semi-finals at Indian Wells, and in Rome in the spring, but then lost steam over the summer, and had a 6-8 record this season against players in the Top 20 coming into Sunday’s match.

“It’s not the summer that I want,” Gauff said. “I feel, like, there’s, like, 70 other players in the draw that would love to have the summer that I had, even though it’s [the worst I’ve probably done] during this time of the year.

“So many people want to be in the fourth round. So many people want to make the Olympics. So many people want to be flag bearer. It’s perspective. Obviously, because I’m wanting to reach a different level, it is disappointing, but I’m not going to beat myself up and be, like, this was so bad.”

23-year old Navarro is closing out a break-through Grand Slam season in which she made the 3rd round in Australia, the 4th round at the French Open, and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Now the 13th seed is a first-time US Open quarter-finalist, and looking to make it into the Last 4, if she can get past 26th-seeded Badosa from Spain on Tuesday.

“Just the mental side of it,” Navarro said about her development. “I believe that I can play tennis with the best players in the world. I deserve to be on this stage, and, yeah, I belong in these rounds of Grand Slams, and, yeah, I can make deep runs.”

Steely-eyed and calm, Navarro is a fluid mover who matched Gauff’s athleticism on Sunday, and plays with a go-for-broke confidence that pairs nicely with her well-rounded game, although she prefers to attack from the baseline.

Born in New York and raised in South Carolina, the lithe 5-foot-7 Navarro may not be the most physically imposing player on tour, but she won the 2021 NCAA singles title for Virginia, and makes opponents pay for losing their nerve.

“I’ve been out on big courts before, where I just felt totally overwhelmed, and almost, like, it’s an out-of-body experience, but I didn’t feel like that today,” she said. “I felt comfortable from the time I stepped out on to the court.”

© Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Both women walked on court wearing matching Olympic rings charm necklaces to commemorate their time at the Paris Games, but both looked tight at the outset, and it was Navarro, playing for her very first time on Ashe, who settled in first as Gauff double-faulted twice in a row to hand her a 4-2 lead.

At 2-5, Gauff blasted a 119 mph serve out wide to save a set point, which she punctuated with a loud scream, trying to gather some steam.

Navarro immediately quelled any change of momentum by hitting a deep, heavy forehand to hold to love and take the opening set, 6-3.

In the second, things stayed pretty even until 3-3, when, with Gauff serving, Navarro crunched an inside-out backhand winner, and then ran down a drop-shot, rolling a forehand into the open court to move 4-3 ahead.

Gauff fought hard, and earned 3 break points in the next game, winning a long, blistering groundstroke rally and snatching her first break of serve on a nervous double-fault coughed up by Navarro, before the No 3 seed held to take a 5-4 lead, and begged the crowd to get loud, which they did, when a forehand flew deep off Navarro’s racket, taking the match into a decider.

“It was tough losing the second set,” Navarro said. “I was up 30-love at 4-3, and had a bit of a lull there. I had to regroup after the second.”

In the third set, Navarro reset, again striking deep, penetrating groundstrokes, and after Gauff double-faulted for the 12th time, she held an early 2-1 advantage.

The 23-year-old kept up the pressure, calmly striking the ball and capitalising on Gauff’s growing number of errors for a 4-2 lead.

Gauff admitted to having trouble with her ball toss earlier in the tournament, and she hung her head or covered her mouth in disbelief as the double-faults mounted.

Before Gauff readied to serve at 3-5 down, a group of children holding oversized tennis balls were somehow allowed to run down into the lower bowl seats, preparing to ask for the winner’s autograph, and they were in her line of sight.

She paused to wait as they were herded back, Gauff’s body language spelled the end as she double-faulted 3 more times, and served a 96-mph second serve on the final point, which Navarro blasted for a winner to move into her first US Open quarter-final.

Navarro, who has described herself as naturally relaxed, had almost half as many unforced errors on the afternoon as Gauff, with the now former champion finishing with 4 times more errors than she hit winners, 60 to just 14.

it was probably Navarro’s best match of the year, and brings widespread recognition to a talented player who has reached a career-high ranking of No 12 in the world when, this time last year, she was listed at 57.

“I think I’m on the radar,” Navarro told reporters. “In my own head I’ll probably always be under the radar just because I don’t give social media and that kind of stuff too much attention.

“I thought being on the radar would be more of a scary thing than it actually is. Now that I think I’m here, it’s not so bad.”

Delighted Paula Badosa got past a tricky Wang Yafan to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final where she will take on Emma Navarro

© Luke Hales/Getty Images

Earlier, Badosa, also born in New York, reached her first US Open quarter-final with a 6-1 6-2 win over China’s Wang Yafan.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, the first 3 games in the opening match on Louis Armstrong Stadium on Sunday took 22 minutes to complete, while Badosa saved all 8 break points she faced.

“It was so humid, I thought I was going to die,” said the 26-year-old about the humidity, which hit 85 percent at noon. “I knew she was tough, but I’m tougher. If I have to stay three hours, I will.”

Badosa is the first Spanish woman to make the quarter-finals since Carla Suarez Navarro in 2018, while it has been 28 years since a Spaniard last reached the semi-finals, and that honour fell to Conchita Martinez in 1996.

Badosa’s progress marks a substantial turn-around in her fortunes, having suffered a stress fracture to her back at Wimbledon last year, which sidelined her for the rest of the season.

The former World No 2 returned in January, but was forced to retire from 3 events as the issues with her back continued to be troublesome, and by the end of the clay court season, when her ranking had plummeted to 139, she pondered retirement.

“I was feeling pain every day I was waking up,” she admitted. “So for me, it didn’t make sense. Also tennis doesn’t make sense if I’m not on the top. I want to play big stages. I want to play the last rounds of every tournament. I want to be one of the best players in the world.

“Then is when I feel motivated and excited every day. If not, for me being in the ranking I was two months ago, didn’t make any sense and I struggle a lot mentally being in that position.”

A career-best run to the 4th round at Wimbledon in July reignited the spark, while winning the title on the hard courts of Washington took her back to the Top 40, and a semi-final appearance in Cincinnati restored her Top 30 status.

“I always had faith in myself, I had this belief that I could come back,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a process that I had to trust, that I had to be patient, but I remember saying to my coach, look, I’m going to give myself this year, and let’s see if this can work out.

“Well, it’s working, so I cannot complain. I’m happy with that.”

Wang Yafan (L) tested Paula Badosa hard but could only take 3 games off the Spaniard

© Luke Hales/Getty Images

Against Wang the first 3 games set the tone of the match, and featured 8 deuces in total.

Down this stretch, 80th-ranked Wang, who had defeated Badosa 6-1 6-3 in their only previous meeting, in the 2019 Seoul quarter-finals, showcased her full repertoire as she attempted to foil the Spaniard with flat forehand winners, superb defence, biting slices and high, loopy resets.

Badosa, though, found answers to all, and pummelled Wang’s more defensive plays, saving 4 break points in the 1st game, and one more in the 3rd, and, in between, slammed a forehand winner to capture the Chinese player’s serve.

At the first changeover, they had delivered an enthralling passage of play, but Wang sat down empty-handed.

The Chinese faded towards the end of the opener, and while she upped her aggression levels in the second set, which was once again closer than the scoreline suggests, Badosa converted 4 out of her 5 opportunities on Wang’s delivery.

In general, Badosa was able to stay on the front foot with impressive offensive tennis, landing 26 winners to Wang’s 16, and frequently finding the corners with both wings while pulling off a series of crowd-pleasing passing shots.

Badosa may have been born in New York, but she will have to take on the American crowd as she bids to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final, facing 13th-seeded Navarro, but the Spaniard comes into the contest having won their only previous meeting, 1-6 6-4 6-2, in the Rome 2nd-round.