The women's draw at the US Open delivered some great matches on the night of Sunday to Monday. The defending champion, American Coco Gauff, was eliminated in the round of 16 by her compatriot Emma Navarro (6-3, 4-6, 6-3).
With 19 unforced errors throughout the match, the 20-year-old made no excuses: "Obviously there are things I would have liked to do better, for example serve better. If I had been able to do that, the match would have been a different story. I lower myself too much on my left side when serving, I know that, but it's difficult to correct in the middle of a match." The end of a disappointing summer for her after her elimination in the third round of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The American, however, wanted to put things into perspective after these two successive failures: "It's not the summer I was hoping for. But we have to put it into perspective, many players would have liked to experience this, to reach the last 16, to take part in the Games, to be the flag bearer. I have ambitions for a completely different level, so it's disappointing, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it."
Later in the evening, the match between Chinese Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng and Croatian Donna Vekic dragged on. The encounter lasted 2 hours and 53 minutes (7-6, 4-6, 6-2) and it was after 2 a.m. when the Asian player finally prevailed.
"After the Olympics, everyone in China started to know me," she revealed two days ago. Her popularity should not stop growing with this qualification for the quarter-finals. She will face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
