After the top seed, Iga Swiatek, was dumped out on Saturday, the No 2 seed Coco Gauff followed her by departing the women’s singles in straight sets on Sunday night.
The 20-year-old was beaten 6-4, 6-3, by fellow American Emma Navarro on Centre Court as she failed once again to get past the fourth round at Wimbledon.
This is the only grand slam where Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, has not reached the last eight. She had previously reached the fourth round here twice, including on her debut in 2019 as a 15-year-old. With Swiatek out of the way, the draw had opened up but Gauff blew her chance as Navarro, the 23-year-old New Yorker who knocked out Naomi Osaka in round two, progressed.
She will face the seventh seed, Jasmine Paolini, on Tuesdaywith a potential semi-final against either the qualifier Lulu Sun or the world No 37, Donna Vekic, in store.
“I’m just really grateful to be out here on Centre Court at a tournament of great tradition and great history. I can’t wait to play again,” said Navarro. “I played aggressively. Coco is an amazing player and I have a ton of respect for her. I wanted to push back on her game and I think I was able to do that.”
Gauff had forced an early break in the first set, but Navarro hit straight back and the 19th seed then forced two set points on Gauff’s serve. She took the second with a flashing winner down the line.
In the second set, Navarro grabbed another break for 3-1 . Gauff saved two match points as Navarro served for the set but fell to a third, plopping another forehand into the net.
Italy’s Paolini continued her remarkable run as she reached the quarter-finals here for the first time on Sunday when Madison Keys retired through injury late in the third set of an absorbing encounter on No 1 Court. Keys led 5-2 in the final set and was within two points of victory but Paolini refused to lie down and the American, who picked up a left leg injury, called it a day at 6-3, 6-7 (6), 5-5, unable to move, the tears flowing.
“Right now I’m so sorry for her, to end the match like this, it’s bad,” said Paolini. “I think we played a really, really good match, it was really tough, a lot of up and downs. I’m feeling a little bit happy but also sad for her, it’s not easy to win like that.
“It was a rollercoaster. I started really well, I was really focused on court but then she played great tennis, she raised her level and it was tough to return balls because they were really fast. I was repeating to myself to stay there, you never know in tennis. In the end, I know she retired, but I’m here with the win.”
It was desperately bad luck for Keys, the 29-year-old American who has suffered a string of injuries in her career. The runner-up at the US Open in 2017, she has endured leg, wrist, knee, neck, abdominal, back and shoulder injuries over the years, causing her to miss significant time on the Tour.
It was not the way Paolini would have wanted to get through but the 28-year-old, who until this year had never won a Tour-level match on grass, was rewarded for hanging in the match when it looked as if Keys was running away with it. She had already recovered from 5-1 down in the second set only to lose it 8-6 in the tie-break and she was on her way back again in the decider.
The first set had been all Paolini, whose speed around the court and surprising power prompted Keys to make way too many unforced errors, the American firing too soon in the rally when she wasn’t really in position to strike. The second was the other way round. Keys reined in her mistakes and chose her time to attack sensibly. A semi-finalist in Eastbourne last time out, the 12th seed started to use her weapons, her serve clicking into groove and her thumping forehand racing past Paolini’s racket.
It was tense, though, as Keys let slip a 5-1 lead in the second set, Paolini’s resilience as impressive as her speed. At 5-5, facing a break point, Keys went ace, ace, forehand winner and when the set went to a tie-break, she held her nerve to take it 8-6 thanks to a brilliant half-volley.
The third set seemed to be going Keys’ way as she raced ahead 5-2 but that’s when the problems began. After missing a forehand to give Paolini one of the breaks back for 3-5, Keys began limping, her left thigh giving her trouble. Paolini held quickly to make it 4-5 and Keys took a medical timeout, off court. When she returned with heavy strapping, she was struggling to push up off the leg to serve and was virtually unable to move more than a couple of steps. Her only chance was to try to serve it out but it was to no avail, a double fault making it 5-5. That, pretty much, was that. Two points later, with the tears continuing to flow, Keys quit.
