Emma Navarro beats Coco Gauff in three sets at Wimbledon

Gauff was shaky from the start as she played the final match of another rainy day under the roof on Wimbledon’s best show court. She had defeated Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in January and was already well-versed in her tennis, having known Navarro since they were children. Gauff praised her all-court play before the match, but Navarro outplayed her by aggressively sticking to the baseline to stop Gauff from thinking about how to get out of their rallies. She took on the 2023 US Open champion in long, cross-court battles, most of them on the forehand side.

It worked — Gauff made 16 unforced forehand errors and became furious when she couldn’t get Navarro out of her rhythm. It didn’t help that Navarro pressured Gauff with attacking returns from the start of every point.

“It was kind of a cat-and-mouse game, who’s going to change the pattern first,” Navarro said. “I like matches like this, where it feels like it’s not just a hit-or-hit match, (where) there’s strategy involved. It feels like a chess match or something. I really enjoyed that.”

Not every 23-year-old looks as light as Navarro on Centre Court, where she plays a Grand Slam champion. But she has been in that position before, knocking out hard-hitting four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round on the same stage on Wednesday.

“Maybe it’s just that the accumulation of a lot more experiences on stages like this and in stadiums like this has made me feel more comfortable playing in those types of environments,” Navarro said. “I’ve just kind of ridden the wave of that comfort, I guess.”

Navarro’s poise and well-timed strokes frustrated Gauff so much that she repeatedly went to her coach’s box for help. Gauff said part of her frustration with her game plan came from the fact that she and her coaches, Brad Gilbert and Jean-Christophe Faurel, weren’t as in sync as they should have been. But she took responsibility.

“I don’t always ask for advice (from my coaches). Today was one of those rare moments where I felt like I didn’t have any solutions,” Gauff said. “… Today was a lot going on mentally. I felt like I wanted more direction from the box. … It’s nobody’s fault but me. I’m the player that’s out there. I have to make my own decisions on the field.”

The 20-year-old’s loss means that just two of the top 10 seeds on the women’s team remain in Monday’s fourth-round draw: No. 4 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, and No. 7 Jasmine Paolini, last month’s surprise French Open finalist. Paolini advanced earlier on Sunday when No. 12 Madison Keys withdrew 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 5-5. Top-seeded Iga Swiatek was surprised by unseeded Yulia Putintseva on Saturday, while third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka withdrew before her first-round match with a shoulder injury.

Navarro will face Paolini on Tuesday in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in her eighth major appearance. She is one of two former University of Virginia stars still in the draw: 2022 Australian Open finalist and No. 11 Danielle Collins, who plays No. 31 Barbora Krejcikova in a fourth-round match on Monday.

The two texted each other after victories and Navarro said she was inspired by watching Collins come back from a 0-4 deficit in the first set of her third-round match on Saturday.

“I passed her during the rain delay and she was eating rice and sweet potatoes, trying to get some carbs in. Then I did the same thing today — I was carbing up for my race,” Navarro said with a laugh. “… It’s pretty cool to have someone else on tour that you have that connection with, that feeling like you’re in each other’s corner no matter what.”

Gauff leaves the singles tournament with regrets about the missed opportunity to win her second Grand Slam title. Wimbledon remains the only major tournament where she has not reached the quarterfinals.

She said the fact that the draw was so open after Swiatek’s departure was not on her mind. As a player who found tour stardom at Wimbledon at 15, Gauff said she does not underestimate any opponent.

“It doesn’t mean anything — especially on my side of the draw, even though the players may not be as well-known, but they’re so talented,” Gauff said. “I think that’s something that people, fans of the game, are a little disrespectful to when it comes to other players on tour.”

Navarro feels that way, too, in her own way. The 2021 NCAA singles champion tries to approach her matches as if she were still in college, where players play one match a week for most of the season — no tournament rounds, no opportunity to build confidence through winning or get in shape. It’s just you and the opponent on the other side of the net.

From that perspective, a fourth-round match on Centre Court against a Grand Slam champion is no more or less important than any other match.

“I believe that this is possible as it’s happening. I’m starting to think, ‘Why not me? Why not? Why can’t I get to the quarterfinals? Why can’t I go far in Grand Slams?'” Navarro said. “I think I’m just starting to have that belief now.”