US Open: Coco Gauff’s title defence comes to an end against Emma Navarro in New York

US Open: Coco Gauff’s title defence comes to an end against Emma Navarro in New York
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Coco Gauff saw the defence of her US Open crown come to an end on Sunday as she suffered a shock defeat to 13th seed Emma Navarro 3-6 6-4 3-6.

The 2023 champion struggled hugely with her serve and forehand, hitting some 19 double faults, and had to show battling qualities to force a third-set decider before she was eventually beaten anyway by her fellow American in New York.

Navarro, who is through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career and first at the US Open, dominated the first set, and was the player on top in the second too, forcing a break to go 4-3 ahead with a service game to come.

Yet, nerves crept in for Navarro as Gauff rattled off three games in a row to take the contest to a third set.

Into the third, Gauff’s serve let her down badly as Navarro eventually broke twice en route to a stunning victory.

“I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane,” Navarro said courtside. “This is the city I was born in and it feels so special to be playing here.

“Coco Gauff 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 one year.

“It was tough losing the second set, I had chances at 30-0 at 4-3 but had a lull. I was able to re-group and kind of just come into the third set with a fresh mindset.

“I wanted to play aggressive tennis and I think I was able to do that.”

Sky Sports Tennis’ Marion Bartoli said of Gauff’s display: “It’s difficult to win a match with 19 double faults, but also Navarro was causing that by coming forward and really looking to attack.

“She was pushing Coco so far behind the baseline that she could only retreat, that’s not what you want, you want to be in the driving seat.

“Her serve direction she was just constantly targeting Coco’s forehand.”

Navarro will next face Paula Badosa, the 26th seed, who dispatched Yafan Wang of China 6-1 6-2 to advance to her second career Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open.