A month ago, they were roommates in the Olympic Village in Paris, embarking on an adventure to represent the red, white, and blue.
After Friday morning’s third-round matches, the tennis gods have placed them together again for an early All-American showdown.
Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro are set to go head to head in the fourth round of the U.S. Open in what should be a popcorn-worthy rematch of their fourth-round showdown at Wimbledon in July.
The two will compete once again for a quarterfinal spot in a Grand Slam, and if Navarro wins again, it will be her first quarterfinal appearance in Flushing only a month after her career-first in Wimbledon.
“It’s really exciting. I said it on the court. I think it’s so exciting to have two Americans playing in the fourth round,” Navarro told reporters. “I’m assuming we’ll be playing on Arthur Ashe. That’s kind of an experience that is something I could have never even dreamed of. I’m playing the defending champ. I think it will be a great match, and I’m just really excited for the opportunity.”
The 6-4, 6-3 win on grass put Navarro on the map and despite her under-the-radar status, she isn’t easy to forget for Gauff, who has watched the Wimbledon match to study herself and her upcoming opponent for Sunday.
“I feel like that match at Wimbledon, I think I mentally just literally collapsed on the court. I was very frustrated, and she played well,” Gauff said. “That was, I think to me, the best tennis she played, like that tournament. … So I think going into this match, I have to expect her to play her best tennis, and I just need to know that I need to bring it and mentally be there from the beginning to the end because she’s going to be a tough opponent.”
Both Americans were thankful to have endured tough matches in order to prepare them for what is likely their biggest match of the tournament thus far.
Navarro, 23, has been playing some of her best tennis this year, going 45-19 in singles, and she has gone 5-3 in the hard court events leading up to the U.S. Open which included two semifinal appearances.
The world No. 13 won nine out of 14 of her service games in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk on Friday.
Navarro also won 64 percent of her service points while committing 34 unforced errors that contributed to a comeback from Kostyuk.
Gauff, 20, still hasn’t completely found the level that she’s been looking for in this tournament and the hard court matches leading up to the Open.
The world No. 3 yelled and threw her hands up in frustration as she struggled with her serve on Friday.
However, she managed to string together the final two sets to earn a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
“I feel like I lost, like, eight points in a row at the end of the first set. I don’t really know the exact number. Probably more,” Gauff said. “So I knew I needed a reset at that point. Yeah, I just went and used the bathroom, changed the bottom half of my clothes, and splashed some water on my face, and felt like a new person coming out. Yeah, I just didn’t want to leave the court with any regrets.”
For the second match in a row, Gauff headed to the practice court following her win to go through the mechanics that stuck out to her in the match.
On Wednesday, it was serves and Friday warranted backhand strokes and more serves.
It will be yet another early-round face-off for the home court Americans, as Frances Tiafoe beat Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round on Friday, setting up a likely meeting with No. 2 Novak Djokovic.
However, the early meeting isn’t frustrating to Navarro, who thinks it’s only beneficial for American tennis.
“The guys and the girls, we both have I think five Americans in the top 20 or top 15 right now, which, you know, it’s pretty amazing. … Of course, I want to see myself and my fellow Americans go as far as we can go in the tournament. The fact that one of us has to be knocked out is tough, but no, I’m not frustrated at all. I think it’s an incredible opportunity for both of us.”
