Emma Navarro is having her best US Open yet, and she took a moment to praise Coco Gauff after beating her in the fourth round, predicting that the 20-year-old will return to the final in the future.
Navarro played a solid match to defeat Gauff in three sets at the 2024 US Open, which is a significant achievement for her. While Navarro didn't play her best tennis, she managed to outplay Gauff, who had a terrible day.
Despite this, the match was close, underscoring Gauff’s talent. Defeating the defending champion is always a notable accomplishment, and Navarro was understandably proud, especially given her emotional connection to New York, where she was born.
She played twice before in New York but never got past the first round, so finding herself in the quarter-finals this time is a major accomplishment for her. In her post-match on-court interview, Navarro also predicted that Gauff would be back in the final again.
Although the 2023 winner didn’t perform at her best this time, she is still young and immensely talented. Many believe she will return to her previous level of excellence, and Navarro echoed that sentiment with her supportive comments.
"It’s pretty insane. I lost first round the last two years. Now to be in the quarterfinals is insane. It’s the city I was born in. It feels so special to play here. Coco is an amazing player. I have a ton of respect for her. I know she’s gonna come back and win this thing again."
The match was unusual in several ways. On the one hand, Navarro played at a fairly decent level, showing stability from the baseline. On the other hand, Gauff was all over the place.
She struggled significantly with her serve, especially in the final set, in which she committed 11 double faults. From the baseline, Gauff was also erratic, accumulating 59 unforced errors, an absurd amount, especially since she failed to hit many winners.
This poor ratio contributed to her loss, as Navarro capitalized on these mistakes to win the match in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Navarro had a chance to end the match earlier with a break in the second set but still managed to outplay Gauff in the third set despite the youngster having good momentum heading into it.
Overall, Navarro's performance was great, and her run will likely push her into the Top 10 unless some of the players ranked behind her have an even more impressive run.
Should she make it to the Top 10, Navarro will become the third American in the Top 10 on the WTA Tour, joining Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. She has a chance to improve her ranking further, and another win could potentially push her up to number 8.
However, mathematically, she can't become the new American number one, even if she won the event, as she wouldn't be able to surpass Pegula.