Emma Navarro tops defending Wimbledon champ Barbora Krejcikova
American Emma Navarro, one of four top-10 seeds left in the women’s draw, came back from a set down to eliminate defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round Saturday.
Navarro extended a recent run of one-and-done winners at the All England Club and assured the grass-court major of yet another first-time women’s champion.
“Something I take a lot of pride in is being tough and fighting ’til the last point, no matter what the circumstances are. It’s something I always try to do,” said Navarro, who was born in New York, grew up in South Carolina and won the 2021 NCAA championship for the University of Virginia. “I could never live with myself if I ever gave up. It’s just not in my nature. I don’t think it’s in any of my family members’ nature to ever give up on anything. I guess we’re a stubborn bunch.”
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.
“I was actually feeling worse and worse,” said Krejcikova, who was No. 17-seeded but now will tumble out of the top 70 in the WTA rankings. “It’s very sad for me and very unfortunate.”
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 US Open — where Gauff was the 2023 champion — en route to her debut in a Slam semifinal.
Navarro, 24, will be making her fifth round of 16 appearance in the past six majors, tied with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff for the most over that span. She will meet No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, on Monday for a quarterfinal berth.
Against Krejcikova, Navarro was down a set and a break at 2-1 in the second before turning things around.
“I kind of regrouped a little, tried to slow things down a bit from my side and make her look at some different shots,” Navarro said. “Kind of just try to make her as uncomfortable as I could.”
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.
“My slice is coming along pretty nicely. I’m able to use that to my advantage,” Navarro said. “Played scrappy at times. Played tough. Hit some good groundstrokes, as well. I feel pretty good about where I’m at.”
Last year’s triumph was the second at a major tournament for Krejcikova, who also won the 2021 French Open.
With Krejcikova’s loss, No. 8 Iga Swiatek — who beat unseeded American Danielle Collins in straight sets Saturday — is the only major champion left in the bottom half of the draw.
Whoever ends up hoisting the women’s trophy on July 12 will be the ninth champion in the past nine editions of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament — the longest such streak in Wimbledon history. Serena Williams was the last repeat champ in 2016.
The winners since then have been Garbine 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 the pandemic).
Rybakina lost Saturday; Vondrousova exited in the second round.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.