Defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova loses to Emma Navarro

LONDON — Defending Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova lost to No. 10 seed Emma Navarro 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round on Saturday, extending a recent run of one-and-done winners at the All England Club.

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.

“Part of you is telling yourself, ‘Just put a bunch of balls in the court, and that’s all you have to do.’ But then, she’s an amazing player, injuries or no injuries. So that’s not good enough,” said Navarro, who was born in New York, grew up in South Carolina and won the 2021 NCAA championship for the University of Virginia. “And then you trick yourself into taking too much off the ball and not playing the way you want to play. Not an easy challenge, for sure.”

Still, she managed to break right back to 3-3, before Navarro broke yet again and then held to lead 5-3. Two games later, it was over.

“I was able to serve a bit better and gained a little bit of traction on my return games, and from the ground, just played a little bit stronger,” said Navarro, 24, who will meet No. 7 Mirra Andreeva, an 18-year-old Russian, on Monday for a quarterfinal berth. “I like to play scrappy, so I was able to play a few more scrappy points, get a few more balls back in the court.”

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 last nine editions of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. Serena Williams was the last repeat champion 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.

Novak Djokovic became only the third player in Wimbledon history to reach 100 victories — after Martina Navratilova and Roger Federer — with his 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 win in the third round over Miomir Kecmanovic on Saturday.

Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 Grand Slam titles at the All England Club, took control by winning nine consecutive games from 3-3 in the first set on Centre Court against his Serbian compatriot en route to his latest milestone.

“Any history that I make in my favorite tournament, I’m blessed,” Djokovic said in an on-court interview.

The 38-year-old Djokovic, playing in his 20th Wimbledon tournament, will next face No. 11 Alex de Minaur for a spot in the quarterfinals.

No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner, who could meet Djokovic in the semifinals, has dropped a record-tying total of only 17 games so far, made his way to the fourth round for the seventh consecutive Grand Slam tournament — he’s collected three such trophies in that span — and never was in trouble during a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 52 Pedro Martinez.

Sinner is the second man in the Open era, which began in 1968, to cede just 17 games through three completed matches at the All England Club. The other player to do that, Jan Kodes, ended up losing in the semifinals in 1972.

Rybakina, the 2022 women’s champion lost 7-6 (6), 6-3 to No. 23 Clara Tauson, while No. 7 Andreeva moved into Week 2 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Hailey Baptiste of the United States. Five-time major title winner Iga Swiatek overwhelmed Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3.

Another fourth-round matchup was set up when No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro advanced.

Men’s winners included No. 11 Alex de Minaur and No. 22 Flavio Cobolli.