LONDON — Coco Gauff has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and was eliminated at that stage again on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Emma Navarro in an all-American match.
It was the latest in a string of exits for top women’s players at the All England Club this year. No. 1 Iga Swiatek was eliminated Saturday, No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew before the match and No. 6 Marketa Vondrousova was eliminated in the first round.
Only two women remain among the top 10 seeds: 2022 champion Elena Rybakina (No. 4) and recent French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini (No. 7).
“I don’t really have words,” said Navarro, the 23-year-old, 19th seed who grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA championship with Virginia.
“I played really aggressively. Coco is obviously a great player. I have a lot of respect for her and it’s really amazing what she’s accomplished at such a young age. I knew she wasn’t going to make it easy on me tonight,” said Navarro, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. “But I wanted to play aggressively and match her game and I think I did that.”
She showed just what kind of tennis she’s capable of, defeating four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Gauff, the second seed, is a 20-year-old from Florida who is the current U.S. Open champion and has also finished as runner-up at the French Open and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open.
Gauff’s first big breakthrough came at the All England Club when, at age 15, she became the youngest qualifier in the tournament’s history and defeated Venus Williams in the first round to reach the fourth round, a result she never surpassed.
She also lost in the fourth round at her next appearance in 2021, then in the third round in 2022 and in the first round a year ago.
Gauff made lots of mistakes on Sunday — 25 unforced errors, more than twice as many as winners, 12. In the guest box on Centre Court, one of her coaches, Brad Gilbert, was conspicuously standing with his hands on his hips and looking up as if asking for advice.
Her biggest problem was the shot her opponents knew was Gauff’s weakness: her forehand.
Navarro kept hitting it to that side, and it paid off.
Gauff made 16 unforced and 16 forced errors on her forehand, accounting for 32 of Navarro’s 61 total points.
