A NEW US Open champion will be crowned in 2024 after defending titleholder Coco Gauff bowed out at the hands of her compatriot and 13th seed, Emma Navarro in the fourth round overnight. Navarro, ranked 12th in the world booked her first US Open quarter finals place with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory over the third seed.

It was a devastating defeat for Gauff who had reached as high as second in the world this year but will now drop outside the top five following the loss. For Navarro, the 23-year-old American will enter the Top 10 for the first time in her career, and will have the opportunity to rise as high as eighth with a quarter finals win over former world number three, Paula Badosa.

In her win over Gauff on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 13th seed was able to remain consistent throughout, hitting six more winners (20-14) but crucially, 25 less unforced errors (35-60). Gauff’s serve which has always been the one issue in her game completely fell apart as she produced a head scratching 19 double faults in the contest.

When the 20-year-old did get her first serve in she was hard to stop, winning 79 per cent of her first serve points, but that figure dropped to 40 per cent off her second, and then handing 19 free points to her countrywoman was always going to spell trouble.

Navarro made the most of it, and was more solid across her service games winning two thirds of her points on both first and second serve points. The deciding set was particularly damning for Gauff, with the youngster producing 11 of her double faults, but only dropped one point off her first serve, essentially summing up the match in that way.

The winner won 16 of 21 from her serve, while Navarro also did not face a break point in the deciding set, but instead broke twice from four chances, and hit seven winners to only 10 unforced errors, compared to Gauff’s four to 22.

“I lost in the first round the last two years, so now to be in the quarterfinals, it’s pretty insane,” Navarro said post-match. “This is the city I was born in, and it feels so special to play here.”

Navarro now faces 26th seed Badosa who wasted no time in ending the run of China’s Yafan Wang in 82 minutes, 6-1 6-2.

AROUND THE COURTS

In a rematch of last year’s quarter final – and the only two players to reach the last eight from 2023 – second seed Aryna Sabalenka will face seventh seed Qinwen Zheng. In last year’s edition, Sabalenka won comfortably 6-1 6-4 and went on to reach the US Open final before losing in the decider to Gauff. Twelve months on, Zheng has gone from 23rd seed up to seventh, rising into the Top 10 in the world.

In their respective quarter finals. Sabalenka was far too good for 33rd seed Elise Mertens, defeating the Belgin in straight sets, 6-2 6-4 to book her spot in the eight. Zheng has an in-form opponent in Croatian 24th seed Donna Vekic and needed the full three sets to shake her off before winning 7-6 4-6 6-2 in two hours and 50 minutes.