Coco Gauff became the latest top player to crash out of Wimbledon as she was ousted by her compatriot and Olympic teammate Emma Navarro.
The No. 19 booked a spot in her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final with a convincing 6-4 6-3 victory over US Open champion Gauff, who looked helpless as she asked her box to tell her something.
It has blown the bottom half of the draw wide open as Gauff was by far the most experienced player left.
It was the second career meeting between Gauff and Navarro after the world No. 2 beat her compatriot in the Auckland semi-final earlier this year. But Navarro has since grown into one of the season’s most consistent players, winning her first title and cracking the top 20.
The second seed was the first to pounce, breaking to love. But Navarro immediately cancelled out the advantage and held her serve to fend off two more break points.
And the former college athlete picked the perfect moment to raise her level, hitting four winners when Gauff served to stay in the set and snatching it 6-4. Navarro continued her clinical display in the second and there was nothing the 20-year-old could do.
Gauff looked helpless as she started spraying errors and threw in a double fault before getting broken again. Her body language was telling as she shook her head while returning and aimed her frustrations at her camp after going 1-4 down, waving her arms.
“Tell me something. You guys aren’t saying anything,” she shouted. Her coach tried to give her new tactics and was seen gesturing in her box but it didn’t work. “Something of a shouting match between Brad Gilbert and Coco Gauff,” BBC commentator Anne Keothavong said.
The world No. 2 dug herself out of a deuce game while serving to stay in the match but she still wasn’t happy. And 23-year-old Navarro sealed the deal on her third match point as Gauff fired down her 25th unforced error. “I don’t have a ton of words but just really grateful to get out here on Centre Court, a tournament with so much history and tradition,” an awestruck Navarro told the crowd.