In her short time at the highest level of her sport, Coco Gauff has built a shining career on grit and resilience, and a rare ability to plot a route to victory even when she cannot find her best level. But deep in the third set against Emma Navarro with her US Open title defence on the line, not even her fighting spirit could paper over the gaping cracks in her game.
A year after becoming a grand slam champion on the same court, Gauff departed Arthur Ashe Stadium following a grim performance in the fourth round of the US Open. The eternally solid Navarro’s resourcefulness and management of nerves helped her move into the quarter-finals on home soil for the first time in her career with a 6-3, 4-6 6-3 win.
With another significant victory, Navarro continues to solidify her status as one of the most improved players on the tour. The 23-year-old American has now defeated Gauff in consecutive grand slam tournaments after also winning their fourth round encounter at Wimbledon to reach her first career grand slam quarter-final.
“I think both of us faced our own struggles at times,” said Navarro. “I think it was a little bit of a battle of will there for a bit. But [I was] proud of my effort today. I was able to stick in there through some tough moments.”
For much of their two hours and 12 minutes on court, Gauff was quite excruciating to watch as she struggled with elementary aspects of her game and her performance underlined the longstanding issues that must be addressed if she wishes to reproduce last year’s results and win another grand slam title.
Gauff’s forehand failed to hold up to sustained pressure from Navarro, then her serve completely malfunctioned, particularly in the final set. She finished with an abysmal 19 double faults, 11 in the final set alone, and her forehand haemorrhaged 29 unforced errors compared to just five winners. The defeat closes out a difficult summer for Gauff that has seen her lose in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, the Olympics and now the US Open.
“Mentally and emotionally I gave it my all,” said Gauff. “Of course, there were things execution-wise, where I wish I could serve better. I think if I would have done that, it would have been a different story for me in the match. But Emma played really well. She did everything well, I thought.”
