NEW YORK — That is just about all anybody must learn about defending champion Coco Gauff’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Emma Navarro within the US Open’s fourth spherical Sunday: Gauff wound up with extra double-faults, 19, than winners, 14.
The No. 3-seeded Gauff had gained 10 matches in a row at Flushing Meadows, together with the run to her first Grand Slam title a yr in the past.
4 of these got here after she dropped the opening set — together with within the 2023 remaining and in her third-round victory Friday — however the 20-year-old from Florida couldn’t full the comeback this time. That is regardless of a mid-match, four-game run by which she claimed 14 of 17 factors to steal the second set and get off to a very good begin within the third.
“Had a bit little bit of a lull there,” stated the Thirteenth-seeded Navarro, an American who was 0-2 on the US Open till this yr, “however I used to be capable of regroup … and are available into the third set with a brisker mindset.”
After every of her previous two contests in New York, Gauff headed again out onto the follow courts to work on her serve. That did not assist a lot Sunday, when she tied her profession excessive for double-faults; she additionally had 19 in a loss on the 2020 French Open. Towards Navarro, Gauff delivered a trio of double-faults in three totally different video games — two of which she misplaced, at 1-all within the first set and, extra considerably, at 1-all within the third.
Eleven of the double-faults got here within the remaining set alone.
Apart from these points, Gauff completed with a complete of 60 unforced errors — a whopping 29 on her forehand facet, the largest weak spot in her recreation. The 23-year-old Navarro, who additionally eradicated Gauff within the fourth spherical at Wimbledon in July, was far steadier Sunday and had 35 unforced errors.
“Coco’s an incredible participant, and I’ve a ton of respect for her,” stated Navarro, a U.S. teammate of Gauff’s on the Paris Olympics, “and I do know she’s going to come back again and win this factor once more one yr.”
This end result follows the stunning third-round loss by defending males’s champion Novak Djokovic on Friday evening, that means the prolonged droughts with out anybody profitable consecutive titles in New York will proceed. The final girl to win no less than two in a row was Serena Williams with three from 2012 to ’14; the final man to take action was Roger Federer with 5 from 2004 to ’08.
The Wimbledon win over Gauff earned Navarro, the 2021 NCAA singles champion for the College of Virginia, her first look in a serious quarterfinal. Her second will come Tuesday in New York in opposition to No. 26 Paula Badosa, a 6-1, 6-2 winner in opposition to Wang Yafan.
