2024-07-09 11:50:02
LONDON — Things were not going well for Coco Gauff against Emma Navarro on Centre Court at the All England Club, not well at all, and she kept looking at her guest box for help from her coaches.
One of them, Brad Gilbert, would stand up and gesture, and coach and player would talk back and forth, but a fix did not arrive.
Gauff has yet to make it past the fourth round at Wimbledon, and she exited at that stage again Sunday, eliminated by Navarro 6-4, 6-3 in an all-American matchup at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
“We had a game plan going in, and I felt that it wasn’t working. I don’t always ask for advice from the box, but today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn’t have solutions,” said Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion who was seeded No. 2 at Wimbledon. “I don’t want to say I didn’t have any, because I think I’m capable of coming up with some.
“Today, mentally, there was a lot going on. I felt like I wanted more direction.”
The elimination of Gauff was the latest in a series of departures by high seeds from the women’s singles bracket: No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost on Saturday, No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew with an injured shoulder before playing a match, and No. 6 Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 champion, was defeated in the first round.
Only two of the 10 highest-seeded women remain: 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, who is No. 4, and recent French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini, who is No. 7 and meets the 19th-seeded Navarro next. Rybakina plays her fourth-round match Monday, facing No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya.
Paolini advanced Sunday when Madison Keys stopped playing because of injury. Keys lost the first set 6-3 before winning 7-6 (6) in the second, and it was 5-all in the third when the American retired from the match.
The other women’s quarterfinal established Sunday is Lulu Sun against Donna Vekic. Sun eliminated 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to become the first woman to get through qualifying and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since 2010, as well as the first woman from New Zealand to get that far at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968.
Vekic dropped to her knees on the No. 2 Court after getting past Paula Badosa, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, to earn her first quarterfinal in 10 appearances at Wimbledon by the 28-year-old from Croatia.
“I feel like I’m living my dream,” Vekic said.
AP photo by Alberto Pezzali / Coco Gauff returns to Emma Navarro during their fourth-round match at Wimbledon on Sunday.The 19th-seeded Navarro, who beat four-time major champ Naomi Osaka in the second round, reached a major quarterfinal in singles for the first time.
“I’m believing that this is possible as it’s happening. I’m starting to think, ‘Why not me? Why not? Why can’t I make a quarterfinal run? Why can’t I go deep in Grand Slams?'” said Navarro, 23, who grew up in South Carolina and won the NCAA Division I women’s singles championship in 2021, her first year at the University of Virginia.
On Sunday, she noticed the interactions between Gauff and Gilbert — and the 20-year-old from Florida’s growing displeasure with her performance.
“I don’t normally give the other side of the court too much energy. I keep it on my side of the court,” Navarro said.
But this time?
“I guess seeing her kind of frustrated and looking at her box, putting her arms up in the air — it’s definitely a little bit of a confidence boost,” Navarro admitted. “I guess it maybe gave me a little bit of momentum and just some energy that I needed.”
Gauff’s first big breakthrough came at the All England Club at age 15, when she was the youngest qualifier in Wimbledon history and beat Venus Williams in the first round en route to getting to the fourth. However, that remains Gauff’s best finish at the event: She also exited in the fourth round in her next appearance in 2021, lost in the third round in 2022 and fell in the first round a year ago.
Gauff made 16 unforced errors with forehands Sunday, and another 16 forced errors, accounting for 32 of the 61 total points won by Navarro.
“I have the ability to raise my level when players play well, and I feel I didn’t do that today,” Gauff said.
In men’s singles, reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner are one match away from another high-stakes meeting in the semifinals.
Each reached the quarterfinals as third-seeded Alcaraz held off an attempted comeback by Ugo Humbert to win 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. Sinner then beat Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) after saving four set points in the third set.
Alcaraz beat Sinner in five sets in the French Open semifinals in June and went on to win the clay-court major for the first time, and the two will meet again in the final four if they win their next matches. Alcaraz will play No. 12 Tommy Paul — a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 winner over Roberto Bautista Agut — while Sinner faces No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, who advanced when No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov retired with an apparent leg injury while trailing 5-3 in the first set.
