Wimbledon set for 1st-time winner as Navarro ousts defending champ Krejcikova

LONDON (AP) — Emma Navarro describes herself as "stubborn" and her tennis as "scrappy." The American's attitude and game both were in just the right places at Wimbledon on Saturday, when she pulled off another Grand Slam victory over a defending champion by eliminating Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Sending an ill and dizzy Krejcikova home in the third round, the 10th-seeded 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 till 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 seeded 17th 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 U.S. Open — where Gauff was the 2023 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 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 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 kind of regrouped a little, tried to slow things down a bit from my side and make her look at some different shots," said Navarro, 24, who will meet No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, on Monday for a quarterfinal berth. "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.

Last year's triumph was the second at a major tournament for Krejcikova, who also won the 2021 French Open.

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.

"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."

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