Wimbledon: Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova loses to American Emma Navarro in the third round
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 timeout while Navarro walked to her guest box and spoke to her coach during the break in action. When play resumed, Krejcikova showed clear signs of being 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.
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.
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. Serena Williams was the last repeat champ in 2016. The trophy-takers since then have been Garbiñe 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.
This has been a fortnight filled with surprises, and Navarro is one of four top-10 seeds left in the women's bracket. The others are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who won her third-round match Friday against Emma Raducanu, and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva and No. 8 Iga Swiatek, who both won Saturday.
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