Coco Gauff joined Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open scrapheap as the defending champion crashed out to Emma Navarro in a blizzard of mistakes.
As Gauff exited on Sunday, US hopes were then rekindled when Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz reached the men’s last-eight, igniting hopes of a first homegrown male Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick’s win in New York in 2003.
Third-ranked Gauff slumped to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, fourth-round defeat to her American teammate. She was her own worst enemy, however, especially on serve where she had 19 double faults – as many as she had in her first three matches combined – while she also made 60 unforced errors.
The 20-year-old’s exit means Serena Williams remains the last woman to successfully defend the US Open title back in 2014.
“I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarterfinals is pretty insane,” said Navarro, who will face Spain’s Paula Badosa for a place in the semifinals.
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. “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.”
Her compatriot Tiafoe joined former champions Andre Agassi, Roddick and Pete Sampras as the only American men to reach at least three US Open quarterfinals 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 will face Bulgarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the semifinals.
The 26-year-old is the second American man in the quarterfinals after Fritz defeated Casper Ruud earlier in the day.
Source: Al Jazeera
BDST: 1331 HRS, SEPT 02, 2024
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