In an echo of her defeat at the same stage of Wimbledon two months ago, the American world No 3 was upended in the fourth round by her compatriot Emma Navarro, the 13th seed, whose remarkable journey at Flushing Meadows continued with a tenacious 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win.

Before last week, Navarro had never even won a match in New York, much less squared off against the defending champion on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But the 23-year-old New Yorker ensured her debut on the sport’s biggest stage was a memorable one, living up to her “ice girl” nickname with a composed, intelligent performance that ruthlessly exposed the technical deficiencies in Gauff’s game.

In the city they famously named twice, as the old song goes, Navarro effectively earned victory twice, first when she stood within two games of repeating her straight-sets victory over Gauff on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, then when she regrouped after faltering in the face of a typically impassioned fightback from Gauff.

Yet Navarro was also the beneficiary of a woeful serving performance from Gauff, who hit 19 double faults and made a whopping 60 unforced errors in all. Twenty-nine of those mistakes came on the champion’s forehand, which disintegrated under the relentless pressure exerted by Navarro.

It was a far cry from the wonders of last summer, when Gauff won a first WTA 500 title in Washington, a maiden 1000 event in Cincinnati, and then became the first American teenager to triumph at a major since Serena Williams won at Flushing Meadows in 1999. She is hardly the first player to struggle under the weight of expectation that accompanies the defence of a first grand slam title, but the manner of her defeat exposed deeper problems.

It was not only the quantity of double faults that cost Gauff so dearly, but also their timing. In the sixth game, she hit two in a row from 15-30 to concede a break that would decide the first set. At 3-3, 30-30 in the second set, her eighth double fault of the evening gifted Navarro a break point that put the world No 12 within touching distance of victory. And although Gauff capitalised on a first hint of vulnerability from Navarro to wriggle out of that hole, worse was to follow in the decider, where she dropped serve in the third game with back-to-back double faults and never recovered. Three more in the final game completed her misery.

“I played well for the most part, I just didn’t take care of my serve,” said Gauff, who did not rule out the possibility of consulting a biomechanics expert, as Aryna Sabalenka did so successfully in similar circumstances. “That was the biggest difference, too many free points on my serve. I go down on my left side a lot on my serve, and it’s something I’m aware of. [But] it’s tough in the moment not to do it. I was just trying to commit to [the serve] and just stay calm.”

Martina Navratilova, working on commentary for Sky Sports, described Gauff’s continued struggles in an area of her game that has long come under scrutiny as an embarrassment.

“It’s one thing when you’re missing forehands or returns,” said Navratilova, an 18-time grand slam champion in singles. “The opponent’s in control, you’re reacting. But missing serves, when you’re in control – it’s embarrassing. Serve should be a plus, or at least neutral. It should not be a minus. It feeds off into the rest of your game.”

The accuracy of Navratilova’s analysis was reflected in the number of errors Gauff made off the forehand, an area that Navarro targeted from the outset. Time and again the world No 3 failed to get her weight through the shot, her extreme grip and tendency to fall off the ball leading to numerous shanks and overspun balls that nosedived into the net. Gauff’s coach, Brad Gilbert, urged her to go high to Navarro’s backhand, yet the tactic had little effect, even when the 20-year-old was able to implement it.

Navarro’s victory was about more than simply exploiting her opponent’s weaknesses, however. She neutralised Gauff’s serve with the quality and consistency of her returning, taking the ball early when she could, blocking it when occasion demanded. She absorbed and redirected Gauff’s power in the baseline exchanges, manipulating the ball intelligently and maintaining immaculate length. And down the stretch, as Gauff fought to retain the title, Navarro retained her composure and her aggression, relentlessly taking on her shots, playing to win rather than relying on the champion’s frailties.

“There’s a different energy playing on Ashe, playing someone like Coco,” said Navarro. “There’s a ton of energy and passion and emotion out there which I don’t show, but I definitely feel it. It wasn’t easy today. I wasn’t able to close it out in two sets, so just really wanted to take that moment on in the third set, just really aggressively and confidently.”

Navarro’s reward is a quarter-final appointment with Paula Badosa, whose renascent summer run continued with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Wang Yafan of China. The 26-year-old Spaniard, a former world No 2 whose ranking plummeted after she suffered a stress fracture in her back last season, won her first title in more than two years last month in Washington before reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati.

“A few months ago, I was thinking to quit this sport because I stopped believing in myself and my injury wasn’t responding,” said Badosa after reaching the second major quarter-final of her career. “To be back [at this level] is a dream come true.”

Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka moved into the last eight with a comfortable win over her former doubles partner Elise Mertens. The Belarusian second seed, defeated by Gauff in last year’s final, won 6-2, 6-4 and will next face Qinwen Zheng, the Olympic champion, who defeated Donna Vekic of Croatia 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2.

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Neither the challenge of facing the world No 2 nor the significance of the moment seemed to faze Navarro, who delivered a masterclass in playing the ball rather than the opponent as she calmly powered, scrapped and retrieved her way to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory. 

The 22-year-old’s composure was matched by her tenacity. Deep in the third set, when Sabalenka began to make inroads into a 4-1 deficit, Navarro never doubted herself, never stopped chasing lost causes or making one more ball. 

For Sabalenka, who was once again below her best as she committed 34 unforced errors and missed four of six break points, it was a recipe for frustration. As Navarro closed in on the biggest win of her career, her serenity afforded a pointed contrast with the Belarusian’s grimaces and roars of anguish.

“I feel the best when it’s really quiet in my head,” said Navarro, who will face Maria Sakkari in the last eight. “Things happen, and obviously I’ll feel a certain way about them, but it’s a three-second emotion and then it’s gone.  

“A lot of people have said it, but just having a short-term memory is so important in tennis. I feel the best when things just don’t get under my skin and I don’t have too many highs or lows, I just feel pretty steady throughout. That’s what I felt today.”

Ranked 23 in the world and heading north at speed, Navarro has her mother, Kelly – “ice woman”, as she is known within the family – to thank for her unflappable disposition. Her poise was never more evident than in the seventh game of the decider, where Sabalenka, battling tigerishly against an inspired opponent, a swirling wind and her own erratic play, stood within two points of getting back on serve.

As Navarro served at deuce, Sabalenka lashed a return deep into the American’s forehand corner and moved forward behind a drop shot. With Sabalenka covering the net like an albatross, Navarro fashioned a scrambling pass before chasing back to gather the Australian Open champion’s lunging response. At a stroke, Navarro transformed defence into attack, hoisting up a deep lob that had Sabalenka backpedalling furiously, then running her from pillar to post with a drop shot and another flicked lob. Demonstrating that she is more than just a counter-puncher, Navarro followed up by cracking a backhand winner to hold. She would not be caught.

“I love to scramble, I love to get scrappy, as my coach says,” reflected Navarro, who is projected to break the top 20 for the first time next week. “It’s one of the things that I love the most about the game, just that cat-and-mouse aspect of playing. 

“I’ve put a ton of effort into fitness and just making sure that I’m strong enough and I’m fit enough and I’m able to go the distance. I think having that gives me a lot of confidence, knowing that I can stay out on the court for as long as it takes. I’m not going to lose because I got tired or I wasn’t fit enough.”

For all Navarro’s excellence, it was perhaps a result had been coming for Sabalenka. She has struggled in the slow, windswept conditions of this self-styled Tennis Paradise, surviving her opener against Peyton Stearns only after saving four match points, then navigating a tight second set against Emma Raducanu. 

“I didn’t play my best tennis,” said Sabalenka. “She played some great tennis.

“I didn’t feel my best on these courts. I tried to adjust. We tried to work on a couple of things, make sure I’m there and I’m fighting for this title. I would say that we did our best and we’ll learn. We’ll work a little bit more on the movement, and hopefully I’ll be ready for Miami.”

Navarro, meanwhile, appears ready for anything. She has racked up a tour-leading 18 wins this season and Sakkari, who inflicted a straight-sets defeat on the American last month in Dubai, is alive to the danger that awaits in their quarter-final showdown.

“She’s low key, very, very good,” said the Greek ninth seed, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Diane Parry of France. “She’s very talented, and she’s just so relaxed and laid back. She’s a very nice girl, as well.  

“She has variety [to] her game. She likes to slice, likes to step in on the return. I’m just going to enjoy tomorrow’s match.”

Against Navarro, that is more than most have managed of late.

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