Coco Gauff Overcomes Sonay Kartal’s Home-Court Advantage to Reach 4th Round at Wimbledon

 Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 5, 2024 Coco Gauff of the US celebrates after taking the first set during her third round match against Britain's Sonay Karta. (Reuters)
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 5, 2024 Coco Gauff of the US celebrates after taking the first set during her third round match against Britain's Sonay Karta. (Reuters)
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Coco Gauff Overcomes Sonay Kartal’s Home-Court Advantage to Reach 4th Round at Wimbledon

 Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 5, 2024 Coco Gauff of the US celebrates after taking the first set during her third round match against Britain's Sonay Karta. (Reuters)
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 5, 2024 Coco Gauff of the US celebrates after taking the first set during her third round match against Britain's Sonay Karta. (Reuters)

Coco Gauff has been a crowd favorite at Wimbledon ever since she burst onto the grass as a 15-year-old by beating Venus Williams in the first round in 2019.

So it was slightly strange for the American to know that a large section of the crowd would be rooting against her in the third round on Friday. That's because she was going up against Sonay Kartal, a British qualifier who had exceeded expectations just by making the third round.

"I think this is my first time ever playing a British player here, so I was a little bit nervous honestly, going in," Gauff told the crowd after wrapping up a 6-4, 6-0 win on No. 1 Court. "Because I knew you guys would be for her. Which is totally understandable."

After facing a tough test in the first set, Gauff took her game up a notch in the second to quickly dispatch Kartal and get back into the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time since 2021.

"She was playing at a high level, she wasn’t giving me much to work with, and she does a good job with mixing up variety, so you never feel settled," Gauff said of Kartal after their first career meeting. "And I felt like I was going for the right shots, I was just missing. But eventually I found it, and then I was able to do well."

Gauff lost in the first round at Wimbledon last year to fellow American Sofia Kenin, then went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open.

She'll play another American next in Emma Navarro, whom she beat in straight sets in Auckland in January. Navarro is making only her second appearance at Wimbledon, having lost in the first round last year, but also made the fourth round at the French Open in June.

"I think when I played her at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t necessarily ready for that challenge," Navarro said of Gauff. "I know I have the level inside of me that can beat a player like her. It’s maybe just a matter of doing it on a bigger stage."

Gauff is likely to have a majority of the crowd support back for that one, and learned at the US Open just how important that can be.

"Coming from experience playing at home in the US, you always just play better and do better," Gauff said, before endearing herself a bit more to the British crowd.

"Thankfully you guys are pretty nice to me," she said, "so that helped."



Salah Scores, Sets Up Equalizer as Liverpool Draws 2-2 at Villa to Lead Premier League by 8 Points

19 February 2025, United Kingdom, Birmingham: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is tackled by Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans (R) during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at the Villa Park. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa
19 February 2025, United Kingdom, Birmingham: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is tackled by Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans (R) during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at the Villa Park. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa
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Salah Scores, Sets Up Equalizer as Liverpool Draws 2-2 at Villa to Lead Premier League by 8 Points

19 February 2025, United Kingdom, Birmingham: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is tackled by Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans (R) during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at the Villa Park. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa
19 February 2025, United Kingdom, Birmingham: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is tackled by Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans (R) during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool at the Villa Park. Photo: Nick Potts/PA Wire/dpa

Mohamed Salah scored one goal and set up the equalizer by Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa that stretched its lead in the Premier League to eight points on Wednesday.
Salah tucked away with his league-leading 24th goal of the campaign to put Liverpool ahead at Villa Park in the 29th minute, only for the leaders to fall behind by halftime following a volley by Youri Tielemans and a header from Ollie Watkins.
Alexander-Arnold ran onto an inside pass from Salah and drove in a shot that deflected past Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez in the 61st as Liverpool salvaged a point from an end-to-end game, avoiding what would have been just a second league defeat of the season, The Associated Press reported.
It remains to be seen whether this was a good point for Liverpool in one of the toughest away fixtures in the league or two more dropped points, a week after a 2-2 draw at local rival Everton.
“We desired more,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said, "and that is the only thing we can blame ourselves for a few times now — we did not get what we deserved. We must not make a habit of that.”
Liverpool has now played a game more than second-place Arsenal, which appears to be the only other realistic challenger for the title, and has another tough away game on Sunday at Manchester City.
Arsenal plays first out of the top two at the weekend — at home to West Ham on Saturday — and has the chance to trim the lead to five points before Liverpool meets City.
Liverpool is seeking a 20th top-flight championship to tie the record of Manchester United.
Salah is spearheading Liverpool's title charge. Not only is the Egypt forward the league's top scorer, with five more than nearest challenger Erling Haaland of Manchester City, he has more assists than anyone else with 15.
Should Arsenal wind up reeling in Liverpool, the Reds may regret a big miss from Darwin Nunez after the Uruguay striker came on as a substitute. Dominik Szoboszlai ran through a squared the ball to Nunez, who had an open goal at which to aim with a left-footed shot.
Nunez blazed the finish high and wide, with Slot on the touchline barely believing what he had seen.
Villa then had chances to win it, with Morgan Rogers shooting over when well-placed and substitute Donyell Malen driving a low shot just wide with one of the last kicks of the game.
“We had some good chances to make it 3-2 and then we could even have lost it,” Slot said. “It was a great game but I am not happy with the result.”
Villa, which has lost just once at home all season in the league, stayed in ninth place and is four points off fifth. A fifth-place finish looks set to be enough to qualify for next season's Champions League.