Wimbledon 2024: Navarro topples Gauff to reach QFs; Paul also through
Two Americans, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro, booked their spots in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon with emphatic fourth-round victories on a rainy Sunday at the All England Club, but the grass-court Grand Slam ended for both Ben Shelton and Madison Keys, in heartbreaking scenes for the latter.
Navarro routines Gauff in return to Centre Court; Keys retires injured
Three of the four Americans remaining in the women's tournament were located in the bottom half of the women's draw, and one was assured of reaching the quarterfinals as Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro squared off on Centre Court.
At the end of 1 hour and 14 minutes that was the former NCAA singles champion. Navarro was comprehensive in a 6-4, 6-3 triumph, her third career Top 10 win and second over a world No. 2 this year. (She also beat Aryna Sabalenka in Indian Wells.)
Navarro's win avenged a 6-3, 6-1 loss to her soon-to-be Olympic teammate in this year's Auckland semifinals, during Gauff's successful title defense at that hard-court event in January. This week at Wimbledon, Navarro admitted that she "wasn't ready for that challenge" six months ago. But Sunday on Centre Court, she was.
The 23-year-old played a tactically perfect match, almost exclusively targeting Gauff's weaker forehand wing. The No. 2 seed hit 16 unforced errors on that side in the match, and grew increasingly frustrated as the contest wore on. A key moment came in the first set at 3-3, when Navarro saved two break points to keep her lead after recovering an early break deficit.
"It's definitely a little bit of a confidence boost, just knowing that your game plan is doing what you wanted it to do," Navarro said afterwards.
"I really wanted to attack her forehand. I think she wanted to do the same to me. We found ourselves in a lot of forehand cross-court rallies. It was kind of a cat and mouse, who's going to change the pattern first.
I love matches like that where it feels like it's not just a hitting or striking competition, there's strategy involved. It feels like a chess match or something. That was really enjoyable for me."
Meanwhile, Keys' fortnight ended in tears at the hands of Roland Garros finalist Jasmine Paolini. After losing the first set but winning the second in a tiebreak (after leading 5-1 earlier), Keys looked poised to reach her third Wimbledon quarterfinal when she opened up a 5-2 lead in the third set. But she was broken serving for the match at 5-2, and after Paolini held for 5-4, Keys requested a medical timeout for a thigh injury. She returned in visible distress, with her movement hampered, and was broken again for 5-5 as she bravely soldiered on through tears.
After Paolini served an ace for 15-15 at 5-5, Keys walked to the net to shake hands, before being applauded off by Paolini and the No. 1 Court crowd.
"[The match] was a rollercoaster because I think she's playing unbelievable. I was doing more mistakes, her level was going up. It's not easy to play against her because I think she's one of the best players in the world. Of course, she's hitting so fast," Paolini said afterwards.
"I hope she recovers soon."
Navarro will take a 3-0 head-to-head record against Paolini into the quarterfinals.
Paul's grass-court streak hits nine, Alcaraz awaits
The last two champions of the Queen's Club Wimbledon tune-up will duel in the quarterfinals, and something will have to give. Paul, a winner of his last nine matches, will face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who's now won 11 straight Wimbledon matches.
To book a spot in his first career Wimbledon quarterfinal, Paul topped Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-2, in a race against time to finish in daylight. The match was played on Wimbledon's No. 2 Court (which does not have a roof), did not get on court until the late afternoon. Paul admitted that he "couldn't see much on one side of the court" for much of the second set.
But if the former Australian Open semifinalist was uncomfortable, he didn't show it: He served 11 aces, hit 41 winners, and broke serve five times.
Looking ahead, Paul and Alcaraz have split four previous meetings, all of which have come on hard courts.
"The serve is always the most important shot in men's tennis. That will be something that I'll want to do very well in my next round. But the return's also a very important shot," Paul said.
"We both play a pretty aggressive style of tennis. He's been playing pretty well and ultra aggressive. I mean, it's fun for people to watch. Honestly, it's fun to play against. I'm really excited for the matchup."
Elsewhere in men's action, Shelton's marathon week at Wimbledon came to an end with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(9) loss to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Due to rain and contined postponements and delays, Shelton found himself on court for the first seven days of Wimbledon consecutively, but rallied well to have four set poins in the third set.
Danielle Collins and Taylor Fritz will look to make it four Americans in the Wimbledon quarterfinals when they play their fourth round matches on Monday. No. 11 seed Collins faces former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, the No. 31 seed, while No. 13 seed Fritz faces Roland Garros finalist and No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev.
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