Three to See, US Open Day 7: Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro go head to head in the Fourth Round

Coco Gauff vs. Emma Navarro

This is a 2024 rubber match between the two young Americans. Gauff won 6-3, 6-1 when they met on hard courts in Auckland in January; Navarro turned that around completely when they played again at Wimbledon, 6-4, 6-3.

For Gauff, their third meeting will function as something of a do-over. Last time, she wasn’t ready for the remodeled version of Navarro she met in Centre Court.

“I think going into this match, I have to expect her to play her best tennis, and I just need to know that I need to bring it and mentally be there from the beginning to the end because she's going to be a tough opponent,” Gauff said. “That match at Wimbledon, I mentally just literally collapsed on the court. I was very frustrated, and she played well.”

For Navarro, the match will be an opportunity to walk onto a new stage, and experience a new level of attention. Assuming the match is played in Ashe, it will be her first time competing in that stadium. When she practiced there as a junior, she it was so big “I was dizzy.”

“I think it’s so exciting to have two Americans playing in the fourth round,” Navarro said. “I’m assuming we’ll be playing on Arthur Ashe. That's kind of an experience that is something I could have never even dreamed of.”

Since their last encounter, Gauff and Navarro roomed together in the Olympic village and became friendly for the first time. All of that, of course, will go back out the window for the duration of this match.

At Wimbledon, Navarro was the much cleaner ball-striker, and the better returner. She seemed to anticipate everything Gauff was going to do, and smoothly redirecting it for her own winners.

“I think I did a good job of neutralizing her serve and just playing really aggressive from the baseline and pushing back against her groundstrokes,” Navarro said. “And then always getting one more ball back in the court.”

Gauff hasn’t been on fire at the Open so far, and it’s easy to imagine Navarro coming out and taking an early lead with her placement and consistency. But Coco has been competing well, and she should be doubly motivated on Sunday, to keep going at the Open, and to avoid losing two straight to a fellow American—friend or not. Winner: Gauff

Taylor Fritz vs. Casper Ruud

These two Top 15 players will give us a meat-and-potatoes showcase of how the men’s game is played at the top of the sport today. Nothing fancy, nothing electric, just first-strike, kill-or-be-killed baseline tennis.

Fritz will power down big flat serves, and follow them by moving his opponent side-to-side with strong but safe forehands and backhands. Ruud will bend in kicking serves that force Fritz to reach, then look to punish the return with his equally spinny forehand. Fritz gets more free points with his serve, and can do more offensively with his backhand. But the most useful ground stroke on the court will be Ruud’s forehand.

Ruud is 25, Fritz is 26, and each turned pro in 2015. But they’ve played just twice in the years since. Ruud won both times, once on an indoor hard court at the ATP Finals in 2022, and once this spring at Roland Garros. Each match was close and prolonged.

Ruud is ranked four spots ahead of Fritz—No 8 to No. 12—and on most days he’s probably a slightly better player. But that may not be true on this day, at this tournament. Fritz is in top form at the moment, and played with unusual decisiveness in his straight-set win over Matteo Berrettini two rounds ago. Ruud, meanwhile, dropped a set to Gael Monfils, and two sets to Jerry Shang.

Fritz’s home-crowd support and motivational edge over Ruud at the Open may be enough to close the small gap between them. Winner: Fritz

Frances Tiafoe vs. Alexei Popyrin

The American and the Australian have become good friends in their seven years on tour together, but they’ve never been opponents. Their failure to face each other has become a running joke between them.

“Playing Frances will be quite an experience, because there has been a few times where I have kind of lost the round before having to play Frances, and he’s always telling me, ‘Man, why do you keep losing before we play each other?’” Popyrin says.

Some were hoping that this round would give us a rematch of last year’s contentious semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Ben Shelton. While Tiafoe-Popyrin won’t have the same tension, it will have plenty of entertainment in the shot-making department. Both guys are dynamic athletes, in different ways. The long-limbed Popyrin rips the cover off the ball with his serve and Western forehand, while Tiafoe moves explosively and varies his attack. As we saw in their wins on Friday, they’re both accomplished celebrators as well.

Popyrin came out firing against Djokovic, and I would guess he’ll do the same against Tiafoe, who often needs to get a set under his belt before his game starts to flow. If Popyrin can grab the first two sets, that might do it. But if Tiafoe can get his teeth, and the crowd, into it, and make it into a running match rather than a slugging match, he may come out on top in the end. Winner: Popyrin