NEW YORK — That’s pretty much all anyone needs to know about defending champion Coco Gauff’s 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Emma Navarro in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Sunday: Gauff finished with more double faults, 19, than winners, 14.
“I don’t want to lose matches like this anymore,” Gauff said, attributing her serving woes to a mix of mechanical and mental issues.
The No. 3 seed, Gauff had won 10 straight matches at Flushing Meadows, including her first Grand Slam title a year ago.
Four of those wins came after dropping the first set, including in the 2023 final and her third-round victory on Friday. But the 20-year-old from Florida couldn’t mount a comeback this time around. That was despite a four-game mid-match run in which she won 14 of 17 points to steal the second set and get off to a flying start in the third.
“I had a little lull,” said No. 13 seed Navarro, an American who was 0-2 at the U.S. Open until this year, “but I was able to pull myself together … and go into the third set with a fresher mindset.”
After each of her last two matches in New York, Gauff has returned to the practice courts to work on her serve. That didn’t help her much on Sunday, when she tied her career high for double faults: she also committed 19 in a loss at the 2020 French Open. Against Navarro, Gauff double faulted three times in three different games — two of which she lost, at 1-1 in the first set and, more importantly, at 1-1 in the third.
Eleven of the double faults were committed in the final set alone.
Aside from those issues, Gauff finished with a total of 60 unforced errors, including 29 on her forehand, the biggest weakness in her game. Navarro, 23, who also knocked Gauff out in the fourth round at Wimbledon in July, was much more consistent Sunday, committing 35 unforced errors.
“Coco is an incredible player and I have a lot of respect for her,” said Navarro, Gauff’s American teammate at the Paris Olympics, “and I know she’s going to come back and win that title again one year.”
The result follows the shock third-round defeat of defending champion Novak Djokovic on Friday night, meaning the long drought without a consecutive title in New York will continue. The last woman to win at least two consecutive titles was Serena Williams with three from 2012 to 2014; the last man to do so was Roger Federer with five from 2004 to 2008.
The Wimbledon win over Gauff gave Navarro, the 2021 NCAA singles champion for the University of Virginia, her first major quarterfinal appearance. Her second appearance will come Tuesday in New York against No. 26 Paula Badosa, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Wang Yafan.
Earlier Sunday, as Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, watched the match at Arthur Ashe Stadium and gave a thumbs-up at the end, No. 9 seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Rublev, seeded No. 6, is known for his violent displays of frustration. He had to be treated by a trainer for a cut on his left hand after hitting it against his racket in the first set. He slapped himself in the face during a tantrum in the second-set tiebreak, which he led 3-1 before losing the next six points.
Dimitrov will now face either No. 20 Frances Tiafoe or No. 28 Alexei Popyrin, the player who surprised Djokovic on Friday.
On Saturday, world No. 12 Taylor Fritz also advanced, beating three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. His quarterfinal opponent will be 2020 US Open finalist Alexander Zverev, who beat Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.
“I’m at the point where I’m still happy to have reached the quarterfinals, but I wouldn’t be happy if it stopped there,” said Fritz, who has yet to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. “I’m definitely at the point where I really want to go further than that.”
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