LONDON (AP) — Defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova lost to No. 10 seed Emma Navarro 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday, extending a recent run of one-and-done winners at the All England Club.
Krejcikova faded in the third set, getting her blood pressure checked at the changeover after Navarro broke her to lead 3-2 at No. 1 Court. Krejcikova ate a banana and drank liquids during the medical timeout, while Navarro walked to her guest box and spoke to her coach during the break in action.
When play resumed, Krejcikova showed clear signs of being in distress, often leaning over and placing her hands on her knees between points.
“Part of you is telling yourself, ‘Just put a bunch of balls in the court, and that’s all you have to do.’ But then, she’s an amazing player, injuries or no injuries. So that’s not good enough,” said Navarro, who was born in New York, grew up in South Carolina and won the 2021 NCAA championship for the University of Virginia. “And then you trick yourself into taking too much off the ball and not playing the way you want to play. Not an easy challenge, for sure.”
Indeed, Krejcikova managed to break right back to 3-all, before Navarro broke yet again and then held to lead 5-3. Two games later, it was over.
This is hardly Navarro's first big win on a big stage. Last year, she eliminated Coco Gauff at Wimbledon to reach her first major quarterfinal. Then, in a rematch a couple of months later, Navarro won again at the U.S. Open — where Gauff was the defending champion — en route to her debut in a Slam semifinal.
Whoever ends up winning the Wimbledon women’s title on July 12 will be the ninth champion in the past nine editions of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. Serena Williams was the last repeat champ in 2016.
The trophy-takers since then have been Garbiñe Muguruza in 2017, Angelique Kerber in 2018, Simona Halep in 2019, Ash Barty in 2021 — all of whom are now retired — Elena Rybakina in 2022, Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and then Krejcikova (the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19).
Rybakina lost Saturday; Vondrousova exited in the second round.
Against Krejcikova, Navarro was down a set and a break at 2-1 in the second before turning things around.
“I was able to serve a bit better and gained a little bit of traction on my return games, and from the ground, just played a little bit stronger,” said Navarro, 24, who will meet No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, on Monday for a quarterfinal berth. “I like to play scrappy, so I was able to play a few more scrappy points, get a few more balls back in the court.”
Most points were decided by what Krejcikova did. That’s how she ended up with 34 winners — 21 more than Navarro — and 53 unforced errors. Remarkably, Navarro finished with just 11 unforced errors.
Last year’s triumph was the second at a major tournament for Krejcikova, who also won the 2021 French Open and was the No. 17 seed at Wimbledon this year. This loss will drop her ranking out of the top 70.
It has been a fortnight filled with surprises, and Navarro is one of four top-10 seeds left in the women’s bracket. The others are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who won her third-round match Friday against Emma Raducanu, Andreeva and No. 8 Iga Swiatek, a 6-2, 6-3 winner against Danielle Collins on Saturday.
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Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
