Gauff's efficiency paying off at Wimbledon; gets Navarro next

When Coco Gauff

View Profile won the first eight points of Friday’s third-round match, talk in the Wimbledon radio booth turned to Yaroslava Shvedova’s "Golden Set" against Sara Errani

View Profile in 2012. Gauff, up 2-0, was one-third of the way to a perfect 24-for-24 points, but when her next shot found the net, British qualifier Sonay Kartal

View Profile was on the board.

And, as it turned out, briefly back into the match. That start, however, was a reliable portent as Gauff coasted to a 6-4, 6-0 victory on the roof-covered No.1 Court. Gauff won the last eight games of the match.

When you win a major, the standards rise. At the still-precocious age of 20, Gauff is now deeply committed to the process. It’s why she’s the No.2-ranked player in the world.

She’s dropped only 10 games in three matches -- albeit with a very Gauff-friendly draw -- and heads into the second week with oodles of positive vibes.

Look at this saga of quick work:

1st round: Caroline Dolehide

View Profile (64 minutes)

2nd round: Anca Todoni

View Profile (66 minutes)

3rd round: Sonay Kartal

View Profile (61 minutes)

Being the overwhelming favorite, as she's been in her first three matches, is a double-edged sword, according to Gauff.

"It does put pressure, I think," Gauff said. "Sometimes if you lose, it's going to be a whole big thing. Then also at the same time, you know that you’re the favorite for a reason. You have more experience in those tough pressure moments.

“I knew today when it got close, I knew I had more experience when it came to playing on a big court, playing in these tough moments, so I just had to trust myself.”

There was a time not so long ago when Gauff sometimes prized the result over the process.

At last summer’s US Open, she lost the opening set of her first-round match to Laura Siegemund

View Profile but rallied to win in three. Gauff was pushed to the limit three more times, most spectacularly in the final against Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile , coming back after dropping the first set.

This year, Gauff is focused on efficiency. At each of this year’s first two Grand Slams, she played only one extra set on her way to the semifinals. After defeating Anca Todoni

View Profile 6-2, 6-1 in Wimbledon’s second round, Gauff said she wished she had played a cleaner match.

“I do think I can be too critical,” Gauff told reporters later, “because 2-1 is clean. I think it’s just moments, maybe I missed some shots that I normally would make. I think on the court I was getting a little bit more frustrated than normal, considering the scoreline.

“I am trying to focus on straight sets and winning cleaner.”

More from Wimbledon:

• Is grass-court tennis the trickest surface on the tour?
  
• Familiar faces: Barty, Sharapova return to Wimbledon with their sons
• Get to know Sonay Kartal, the British qualifier set to face Gauff next
• Serena, Swiatek lead tributes to retiring Murray

Waiting in Sunday’s fourth round will be fellow American Emma Navarro

View Profile , a come-from-behind 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Bad Homburg champion Diana Shnaider

View Profile . Gauff defeated Navarro in their only previous match, 6-3, 6-1 in the Auckland semifinal earlier this year.

What is the ascendant No.17-ranked Navarro up against? Among regularly active players, only Iga Swiatek

View Profile (78-16, .830) holds a better winning percentage in women’s singles matches at Grand Slam events than Gauff (57-18, .760). Since 2000, only two women won more Grand Slam singles matches before turning 21 than Gauff (56) -- Maria Sharapova (81) and Kim Clijsters (58).

Gauff and Navarro will be teammates at the upcoming Olympics in Paris.

“A lot of people think her ranking is a surprise,” Gauff said. “Just growing up with her, I always knew she was very talented and knew her game would translate well on tour. I think she has a very all-court game. Playing her is going to be a tough match.

“I'm very excited to be able to play against her and then play on the same team as her in the Olympics.”

It was a breakthrough tournament for Kartal, the first female qualifier from Great Britain in the third round since Karen Cross in 1997. The 22-year-old, ranked No.298, had won eight of 11 matches on grass beginning in early June. The record at Wimbledon was a pristine 5-0, including three qualifying matches.

Gauff, an exceptional defender and one of the fastest women in the game, is beginning to rely more on her offense.

“I’m just going for it more and accepting the misses,” she said earlier in the tournament. “I think when I go for it overall, it’s more winning for me on my serve. I think I just have a lot of confidence in my return game and that makes the serving a lot easier. I know I can get the power when I need to.”

Against Kartal, Gauff won 26 of 29 first-serve points -- while breaking her opponent five times.

Through two rounds, Gauff had the fastest women’s serve on record at these Championships, at 124 miles per hour. 

“I think the fastest I've gotten is 128,” she said. “Do I have a 130 in me? I don’t know. Maybe if I was a little bit taller. I can get definitely 130. Now, if it goes in, I don’t know.”

While Gauff has been taking care of her business, the draw has been taking care of her. Two of the three highest seeds in her bottom-half of the draw -- No.3 seed Sabalenka (withdrew) and No.8 Zheng Qinwen (defeated) were gone by the second round.

“Yeah, I thought I played really well,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “She was playing at a high level and she wasn’t giving me much to work with. I was just trying to make less mistakes. But eventually I was able to find it and do well.”