Coco Gauff joins exit of US Open superstars after New York horror show

NEW YORK – American Emma Navarro said “I deserve to be on this stage” after she sent defending champion Coco Gauff to the US Open scrapheap, alongside Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

As Gauff exited in a blizzard of mistakes, American hopes were rekindled when Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz reached the men’s last eight, igniting hopes of a first home-grown male Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick’s win in New York in 2003.

The third-ranked Gauff slumped to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 fourth-round loss to her fellow American on the back of 19 double faults and 60 unforced errors. This means Serena Williams remains the last woman to successfully defend her US Open title, back in 2014.

“I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane,” said Navarro, who will face Spain’s Paula Badosa for a place in the semi-finals.

“I’ve been out on big courts before where I just felt totally overwhelmed and almost like it’s an out-of-body experience, but I didn’t feel like that today.”

Gauff’s loss was another body blow to the season’s final Grand Slam.

Djokovic, the defending men’s champion, was knocked out in the third round to suffer his earliest exit in 18 years.

Fellow crowd-pleaser Alcaraz, the 2022 winner in New York and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, was stunned in the second round.

“I gave it my all,” said Gauff, 20. “Obviously there were things execution-wise, where I was like, I wish I could serve better. I think if I did that, it would have been a different story.”

Navarro, who constantly attacked Gauff’s second serve, said she is making a conscious effort to play proactively against the top players – a strategy that has helped her rise to a career-high No. 12 in the world.

“I’m totally different, definitely, as a player. I play more aggressive, every part of my game has improved. Also, I just play with more confidence and more belief,” the 23-year-old said.

“I believe that I can play tennis with the best players in the world. I deserve to be on this stage, I belong in these rounds of Grand Slams and I can make deep runs.” 

Tiafoe joined former champions Andre Agassi, Roddick and Pete Sampras as the only American men to reach at least three US Open quarter-finals since 2000.

The 20th-ranked Tiafoe notched a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-3 victory over Alexei Popyrin, who shocked Djokovic in the last round.

Tiafoe, 26, will face Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semi-finals.

He is the second American man in the last eight, after Fritz beat Casper Ruud earlier in the day.

Tommy Paul can make it three, but he has to get past world No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Sept 2. That match took place after press time.

Dimitrov, the 33-year-old ninth seed, put out Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3 to return to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2019.

That year, he defeated Federer in what proved to be the Swiss legend’s final appearance in New York.

Alexander Zverev, who lost the 2020 final to Dominic Thiem, made his fourth quarter-final by beating American Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Up next is a last-eight clash with 12th seed Fritz, who came back from two sets down to triumph in the pair’s dramatic fourth-round clash at Wimbledon in July.

Fritz knocked out 2022 runner-up and the eighth-ranked Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on the back of 24 aces to reach his third Grand Slam quarter-final of 2024.

The New York-born Badosa reached her first US Open quarter-final with a 6-1, 6-2 win over China’s Wang Yafan.

“It was so humid I thought I was going to die,” said the 26-year-old.

Women’s second seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff last year, eased into a fourth successive quarter-final by seeing off Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4, unleashing 41 winners.

Sabalenka will next face Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who beat Donna Vekic 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2 in a rematch of the Paris final.

The 21-year-old Chinese, who lost to Sabalenka in the Australian Open final, finally secured victory at 2.15am on Sept 2 – the latest finish to a women’s match at the Grand Slam.

It beat the 2021 record finish of 2.13am when Maria Sakkari beat Bianca Andreescu in the fourth round. AFP, REUTERS