Coco Gauff, a seven-time singles champion and the world No. 2, suffered a 6-4, 6-3 upset loss to Emma Navarro during the fourth round of Wimbledon on Sunday. Navarro will advance to her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal after beating a player ranked No. 2 or better for the second time; her last win over a world No. 2 was against Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells in March.
This is the second big upset at All England Club in as many days, as world No. 1 Iga Swiatek fell to Yulia Putintseva during third-round action on Saturday.
Gauff suffered 12 losses during the match, surpassing the 10 she accumulated in the first three rounds combined. Many pointed to her weak forehand, serving inconsistencies and frequent looks toward her team as the reasons she lost Sunday’s match. Gauff tallied 25 unforced errors in the match compared to Navarro’s 16, and she also converted only 56% of her first serves while Navarro connected on 74% of them.
Meanwhile, Navarro addressed the crowd at center court following her upset victory.
“Just really grateful to be out here on center court at a tournament with so much history and tradition that so many legends have played before me,” Navarro said. “It’s a real honor, so thank you guys for coming out to watch and [I] can’t wait to play again.”
Navarro will take on Jasmine Paolini in Tuesday’s quarterfinal matchup. Paolini advanced to the quarterfinals following a walkover by Madison Keys, who left the match and withdrew from Wimbledon due to a leg injury.
KVSP