Coco Gauff saw the defence of her US Open crown come to an end on Sunday as she suffered a shock defeat to 13th seed Emma Navarro 3-6 6-4 3-6.
The 2023 champion struggled hugely with her serve and forehand, hitting some 19 double faults, and had to show battling qualities to force a third-set decider before she was eventually beaten anyway by her fellow American in New York.
Navarro, who is through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career and first at the US Open, dominated the first set, and was the player on top in the second too, forcing a break to go 4-3 ahead with a service game to come.
Yet, nerves crept in for Navarro as Gauff rattled off three games in a row to take the contest to a third set.
Into the third, Gauff’s serve let her down badly as Navarro eventually broke twice en route to a stunning victory.
“I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane,” Navarro said courtside. “This is the city I was born in and it feels so special to be playing here.
“Coco Gauff is an amazing player, I have a ton of respect for her and I know she’s going to come back here and win this thing again one year.
“It was tough losing the second set, I had chances at 30-0 at 4-3 but had a lull. I was able to re-group and kind of just come into the third set with a fresh mindset.
“I wanted to play aggressive tennis and I think I was able to do that.”
Navarro will next face Paula Badosa, the 26th seed, who dispatched Yafan Wang of China 6-1 6-2 to advance to her second career Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open.
The Spain product and former top-five player went 8-for-8 in saving break points and 4-for-5 in converting break points to prevail in one hour, 22 minutes at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
It was a remarkable turn of events for Badosa, who despite being just 26 years old has contemplated retirement due to pain from a stress fracture of her back.
