Gauff and Zverev aim for quarterfinals at US Open

Defending champion Coco Gauff will aim for her third consecutive place in the US Open quarterfinals on Sunday, while former runner-up Alexander Zverev will look to exploit the large gap left by the surprise exit of four-time winner Novak Djokovic in the draw.

World number three Gauff will face fellow countrywoman Emma Navarro and will aim to avenge the defeat she suffered at Wimbledon in July.

Gauff, 20, is one of only two women to have made it to at least the fourth round of every Grand Slam tournament this season, and she was quick to dismiss her recent straight-sets loss to Navarro as a slip-up.

“I feel like I did in that match at Wimbledon. I think I literally collapsed mentally on the court,” Gauff said.

“I was very frustrated and she played well. I think that was the best tennis she played.”

Unlike the well-known Gauff, Navarro, who is ranked 12th, prefers to stay in the background. She has 100,000 followers on Instagram, while Gauff only has 1.8 million.

“In my own mind, I'll probably always stay under the radar just because I don't like social media and stuff like that,” she said.

“In my head I'll always just be regular Emma, ​​unremarkable Emma, ​​but yeah, maybe I'm more on the radar for the rest of the world now.”

Fourth-seeded Zverev, who blew a two-set lead to lose the 2020 final to Dominic Thiem, is the top seed in the bottom half of the draw after Djokovic suffered his earliest US Open defeat in 18 years.

The German star leads the ATP Tour this season with 55 match wins and his third-round victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry was the 100th victory of his Grand Slam career.

He will now face unseeded American Brandon Nakashima, who reached the round of 16 for the first time in New York.

Alexei Popyrin, the 28th-ranked Australian who shocked 24-time major winner Djokovic on Friday, has yet to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

He will face the flamboyant Frances Tiafoe, the 20th-ranked goalscorer in the world who reached the semi-finals in 2022 and the quarter-finals 12 months ago.

With Djokovic and 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz already eliminated, home fans are dreaming of the first American men's Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick, who won the US Open in 2003.

Tiafoe is one of four Americans to reach the round of 16.

“Playing Frances will be quite an experience,” said Popyrin.

“A few times I've lost the round before I had to play against Frances, and he always says to me, 'Man, why do you always lose before we play against each other?'”

Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev is aiming for his fifth US Open quarterfinal against ninth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the tournament's first all-top-10 clash.

Casper Ruud, the sixth seed who finished runner-up to Alcaraz two years ago, will face 2023 quarter-finalist Taylor Fritz.

The number two seeded women's tennis player and Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka, who finished second behind Gauff in New York last year, will face Belgian Elise Mertens.

The night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium ends with the duel between China's Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic from Croatia in a repeat of the final of the Olympic Games.

Zheng has hit 39 aces in three rounds at this year's US Open, making him the tournament's leading player.

DJ/JC