Navarro stuns Gauff in all-American clash to reach maiden Grand Slam quarter-final

Emma Navarro stunned compatriot Coco Gauff in their fourth-round encounter at Wimbledon, beating her fellow American 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

In a full throttle encounter packed with powerful exchanges, Navarro ultimately outhit the world No 2, as Gauff’s sometimes unreliable forehand broke down towards the end of the match.

With Gauff leaking forehand errors (15), Navarro put in one of the best performances of her career to break serve three times en route to an excellent win.

For Gauff, she has still yet to make a Wimbledon quarter-final nine years on from her extraordinary run to the fourth round as a 15-year-old in 2019.

“I thought she did well staying on the baseline, which I know how she plays just from playing her before. But she really did well timing my hardballs to her, which isn’t easy to do on grass,” said Gauff of Navarro after the match.

“Also she hit a lot of, like, I think extra balls back like slices, mixing it up. Overall I think she played well. I think she returned well today, especially on my second serve.”

Of her own game, Gauff confessed that she struggled to find solutions to Navarro’s play.

“Today was one of those rare moments where I felt I didn’t have solutions. I don’t want to say I didn’t have any because I think I’m a capable player of coming up with some. 

“I think today mentally there was a lot going on.”

Navarro, ranked No 17, will play Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No 7 seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, Emma Navarro won against Chinese Qiang Wang (6-0, 6-2), Japanese wildcard Naomi Osaka (6-4, 6-1) and Russian Diana Shnaider (2-6, 6-3, 6-4).

Gauff, ranked No 2, defeated Caroline Dolehide (6-1, 6-2), Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni (6-2, 6-1) and qualifier Sonay Kartal (6-4, 6-0) in the previous rounds of The Championships.

London (Grand Slam), other last-16 results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50.000.000, most recent results first):

• Danielle Collins vs. Barbora Krejcikova
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Elina Svitolina vs. Xinyu Wang
• Elena Rybakina vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Lulu Sun (Q) beat Emma Raducanu (WC): 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini beat Madison Keys (12): 6-3, 6-7 (6), 5-5 ret.
• Donna Vekic beat Paula Badosa: 6-2, 1-6, 6-4