New York (AFP) – Defending champion Coco Gauff seeks a third successive US Open quarter-final spot on Sunday as former runner-up Alexander Zverev attempts to exploit the gaping hole left in the draw by the shock exit of four-time winner Novak Djokovic. World number three Gauff tackles Emma Navarro, seeking to avenge the defeat she suffered at the hands of her American compatriot at Wimbledon in July. The 20-year-old Gauff is one of only two women to have made at least the fourth round of every Slam this season and she was quick to write off that recent straight-sets loss to Navarro as a blip.
“I feel like that match at Wimbledon I think I mentally just literally collapsed on the court,” said Gauff. Unlike the high-profile Gauff, 12th-ranked Navarro prefers to stay in the shadows — her 100,000 followers on Instagram are dwarfed by Gauff’s 1.8 million. “In my own head I’ll probably always be under the radar just because I don’t like social media and that kind of stuff too much,” said Navarro. “In my head I’ll always just be kind of regular Emma, under-the-radar Emma.”
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The winner of that clash will face New York-born Paula Badosa of Spain, who reached her first US Open quarter-final with a 6-1, 6-2 win over China’s Wang Yafan. Despite the one-sided scoreline, the first two games took 17 minutes. Badosa saved all eight break points she faced. “It was so humid I thought I was going to die,” said the 26-year-old. “I knew she was tough but I’m tougher.”
Fourth-ranked Zverev, who blew a two sets lead to lose the 2020 final to Dominic Thiem, is the highest seed left in the bottom half of the draw after Djokovic suffered his earliest loss at the US Open in 18 years. The German star leads the ATP Tour in match wins this season with 55, and his third round victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry was the 100th victory of his Grand Slam career. He now takes on unseeded American Brandon Nakashima, who is in his first fourth round tie.
If Zverev makes the quarter-finals for a fourth time, he will take on US 12th seed Taylor Fritz, who knocked out 2022 runner-up and eighth-ranked Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Fritz fired 24 aces past Ruud, avenging a last-16 defeat to the Norwegian at the French Open to reach his third Grand Slam quarter-final of the year.
Alexei Popyrin, the 28th-ranked Australian who shocked 24-time major winner Djokovic on Friday, has yet to make a Slam quarter-final. He takes on flamboyant Frances Tiafoe, the 20th-ranked shot-maker who made the semi-finals in 2022 and last-eight 12 months ago. With Djokovic and 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz already eliminated, home fans are dreaming of a first American men’s Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick captured the US Open in 2003. Tiafoe is one of four American men to have made the last 16.
“Playing Frances will be quite an experience,” said Popyrin. “There have been a few times where I have kind of lost the round before having to play Frances, and he’s always telling me, ‘Man, why do you keep losing before we play each other!'” Waiting in the quarter-finals will be Grigor Dimitrov, the ninth-seeded Bulgarian who put out Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3. Dimitrov last made the quarter-finals in 2019 when he defeated Roger Federer in five sets in what proved to be the Swiss legend’s final appearance in New York.
“I was playing fairly good today in the first two sets,” said 33-year-old Dimitrov, the oldest player left in the men’s draw. “But for some reason my body got tired a little bit and he wasn’t going to give up the match. I had to stay patient.”
Women’s second seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff in New York last year, meets Belgium’s Elise Mertens. The night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium concludes with China’s Zheng Qinwen facing Donna Vekic of Croatia in a rematch of the Olympic Games final. Zheng has unleashed a tournament-leading 39 aces over three rounds at this year’s US Open.
© 2024 AFP
