Emma Navarro Dethrones Defending Champion Coco Gauff at US Open

NEW YORK—Coco Gauff turned Arthur Ashe Stadium into a bounce house soaring to the 2023 US Open crown.

Today, New York native Emma Navarro home-schooled an erratic Gauff for her biggest Grand Slam triumph.

A sharp Navarro exploited 19 double faults from Gauff dethroning the defending champion 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to charge into her maiden US Open quarterfinal.

In her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut, Navarro looked like a woman who grew up on the big stage handling the occasion—and the defending champion—with assertive composure.

It is Navarro’s second straight Slam win over Gauff following her 6-4, 6-3 sweep in the Wimbledon fourth round in July.

“It’s pretty insane I lost in the first round the last two years now to be making the quarterfinals is pretty insane,” Navarro told Mary Joe Fernandez afterward. “This is the city I was born in—it feels so special to be playing here.

“Coco is an amazing player. I have so much respect for her. I know she’s gonna come back and win this thing again one year.”

Gauff’s loss means we will see a ninth different woman in the last 10 years raise the US Open title trophy next Saturday. Serena Williams, who was in Ashe Stadium today as a spectator drawing a rousing ovation from fans, is the last woman to successfully defend the US Open a decade ago.

The 13th-seeded Navarro attacked the Gauff flaky forehand return relentlessly and straddled the baseline pressuring the champion’s sometime shaky second serve.

Self-sabotage contributed to Gauff’s demise this summer and in this match.

For all the focus on the Gauff forehand, today her second serve completely unraveled at crunch time.

Decelerating on that second serve, Gauff committed 11 of her 19 double faults in the final set.

In a serving horror show, Gauff served just 37 percent in the last set. Navarro won 15 of the 22 points played on her compatriot’s second serve in the decider.

In some matches this season when her forehand failed her, Gauff relied on her bold backhand, blistering speed and fiery first serve to bail her out. Today, Gauff couldn’t land the big serve when she needed it most in the final set, and like the deposed men’s champion, Novak Djokovic, the double faults piled up as the pressure escalated. 

Ultimately, Hobart champion Navarro played with more control and self-belief powering into her second straight Slam quarterfinal.

The 23-year-old Navarro, who was born in New York City and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, will face former Indian Wells champion Paula Badosa for a semifinal spot.

Earlier, the 26th-seeded Badosa blitzed Yafan Wang 6-1, 6-2 to become the first Spanish woman to reach the US Open quarterfinals since retired Carla Suarez Navarro did it back in 2018.

In their lone prior meeting on Rome’s red clay last May, Badosa beat Navarro 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In a pulsating all-American atmosphere, Navarro played with more poise and patience at the start. Navarro rattling out the first break at 15 for a 4-2 lead and ratcheted up the pressure forcing Gauff to play from behind..

One of the few women in the world he can run with Gauff and showed it. Reading the direction of a Gauff drive, Navarro slid a backhand strike down the line as she backed up the break for 5-2.

The 13th-seeded Navarro wisely targeted Gauff’s sometime fragile forehand wing and drew several forehand return errors on the deuce side.

A confident Navarro bookended the first set with love holds to go up one set.