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.
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 check, while Navarro walked to her guest box and spoke to her coach during the break in action.
When play resumed, Krejcikova still appeared to be in distress, often leaning over and placing her hands on her knees between points.
Still, she 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.
“It was really tough out here today, probably neither of us played our best tennis,” the 10th-seeded Navarro said in her on-court interview. “I know she was dealing with injuries at times; I was dealing with whatever I was dealing with over there.”
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.
Navarro will be making her fifth Round of 16 appearance in the last six majors, tied with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff for the most over that span. She next faces No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia.
With Krejcikova’s loss, No. 8 Iga Swiatek is the only former major champion left in the bottom half of the draw.
Whoever ends up winning the women’s title 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 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. Rybakina also lost Saturday, while Vondrousova exited in the second round.
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.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: espn.com