The 2024 U.S. Open will be one Coco Gauff would like to forget sooner rather than later.

The defending champion failed to advance past the Round of 16 on Sunday afternoon, losing to fellow American Emma Navarro, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Navarro took care of business in the first set, and the second was a back-and-forth battle early. With the set tied at three, Navarro broke Gauff’s serve to go up 4-3, putting Gauff on thin ice.

But it wasn’t thin enough as Gauff returned the favor by breaking Navarro’s serve. Gauff then took a 5-4 lead and then broke Navarro again to take the match to a third set.

Gauff won the first game, with all signs pointing to momentum on her side. But it didn’t carry over as Navarro took the next three. The two then alternated games, putting Navarro up 5-3 with Gauff serving, but that wasn’t much of an advantage for the reigning champ, who double-faulted three times to help Navarro advance to the quarterfinals.

Coco Gauff is shown after a miss during her match against Emma Navarro at the U.S. Open. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)

NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S SHOCKING US OPEN LOSS ENDS INCREDIBLE 22-YEAR STREAK

Gauff had 19 double faults in the match, 11 of which came in the final set. After her final one, she threw her racket down in anger.

It’s the second grand slam in a row she lost in the Round of 16 after advancing to at least the semifinal in her previous three. It’s also the sixth year in a row the reigning champ failed to make it to the quarterfinals. No reigning champ has made it to a semifinal since Serena Williams in 2015.

Navarro next faces Paula Badosa of Spain on Tuesday; it’s her second straight quarterfinal in what’s been a career-year for the 23-year-old, who had never made it past the second round of a grand slam until this year.

Emma Navarro, left, is shown after beating Coco Gauff at the 2024 U.S. Open. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)

She’s advanced to at least the Round of 16 in each grand slam this year, with her best finish being the quarterfinal in July’s Wimbledon.

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The Dodgers made a business decision Sunday.

After two hard-fought, high-intensity wins to open this weekend’s pivotal four-game series in Arizona, the team had a chance to really stretch its lead in the National League West; to perhaps build a gap too insurmountable to be squandered in the season’s final month.

However, they were also wary of the worn-out state of their roster. Of a bullpen that had combined for 12 innings in those two wins. Of a lineup that has been grinding through a resurgent August that’s seen them reaffirm their place atop the division standings.

That’s why, even as Sunday’s 14-3 blowout loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field began to slip off the rails, manager Dave Roberts did little to stop the train wreck.

He left rookie spot starter Justin Wrobleski on the mound to wear it in a 5 ⅓-inning, 10-run implosion (eight of the runs scored in a seven-hit, 11-batter second inning).

He pulled three of his best (and most heavily used) star players — Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández — in the third inning.

He effectively waved the white flag before the club had gone through the batting order even two full times.

“I think for me, as I’ve always felt, and still do feel, the player’s health is most important, and if that could be compromised at all, I will go with another option,” Roberts said pregame. “I just feel that kind of mindset overall is most beneficial for the player, the team. So I don’t think that the win-loss, the standings, will have any deciding factor on who I use today.”

He certainly wasn’t lying.

This can still be a successful desert trip for the Dodgers. They’ve already assured themselves of a series split and no worse than a four-game lead in the NL West (it stood at five games over both the Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres at the end of play Sunday).

But once Sunday’s game started to unravel, they decided it was beyond attempting to save.

Agree or disagree, they tolerated what they hope proves to be only one small step back, in a bet it will allow them to take bigger strides forward in the future.

Even if the Dodgers (82-55) hadn’t punted on Sunday’s game early on, the hole Wrobleski left them was likely too deep to overcome.

Making his sixth career start, the 24-year-old left-hander was jumped by the Diamondbacks (76-61) and their high-powered lineup in the second inning.

Randal Grichuk led off with a double. Eugenio Suárez, Kevin Newman and Jose Herrera strung together consecutive one-out singles, making it 2-0. Then Geraldo Perdomo pounded a two-run double, opening up a 4-0 Arizona lead.

If there was ever a moment for Roberts to contemplate a more aggressive strategy, and consider turning to his weary bullpen to stop the bleeding, it was then.

However, just as Roberts promised pregame, the bullpen didn’t stir. The manager stayed in his seat at the front of the dugout.

Wrobleski was going to have to wear it.

And wear it, he did.

After a Josh Bell single made it 5-0, Grichuk returned to the plate and clobbered a three-run, back-breaking homer to the balcony in right-center field, easily clearing the 413-foot marker some 20 feet below.

As Wrobleski watched the ball sail out, he hung his head while the hometown portions of a packed matinee crowd erupted around him.

After Shohei Ohtani, Betts and Freeman struck out in consecutive at-bats the following half-inning, the writing was plastered on the wall.

When the Dodgers took the field in the bottom of the third, Freeman (who is still playing with a fractured right middle finger), Betts (who played in all 18 of the team’s games since returning from a broken hand) and Hernández (who has played a team-high 133 games this year) stayed on the bench.

The Dodgers eventually scratched across three runs (Tommy Edman and Kevin Kiermaier had RBI grounders; Austin Barnes hit an RBI single). But that was little consolation in what became the Dodgers’ most lopsided loss of the season.

Wrobleski’s 10 earned runs alone matched the most allowed by a Dodgers pitcher in the club’s Los Angeles history.

The Dodgers will have a chance for redemption Monday afternoon.

Top trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty will take the mound coming off five days of rest. The bullpen will be as fresh as it’s been in perhaps weeks (though that’s not saying much for a group that has compensated for a lack of length from the rotation all year). The chance to take three of four games from an intradivision rival will still be well within reach.

The Dodgers will hope their roster decisions Sunday only aid that effort.

They made a business decision, and now have to wait and see if it ultimately pays off.

NEW YORK — On Friday, top New York Yankees prospect Jasson Domínguez was with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, starting in left field and batting second.

On Sunday, Major League Baseball active rosters will expand from 26 players to 28. That would allow the Yankees to call up Domínguez without needing to kick someone else out to make room for him.

Will they do it?

“I don’t know,” manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium. “We’ll see. We haven’t made that decision. So, I don’t know.”

But should they call up Domínguez? The Athletic’s Yankees beat reporters Chris Kirschner and Brendan Kuty discuss.

Jasson Domínguez zooms around the bases on his first triple of 2024 in 11.75 seconds! (110.5 mph EV, no less.)

Only SS Anthony Volpe has posted a faster home-to-third among players still in the @Yankees org this season.@swbrailriders | @NYYPlayerDev pic.twitter.com/LiIE28HmBo

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 28, 2024

Should the Yankees call up Domínguez?

Kirschner: This should be an obvious decision given the options available to the club. The answer is a resounding yes. He may be a difference-maker for the Yankees down the stretch and into October.

Left field has been one of the weakest positions for the Yankees this year. Going into Friday, their combined 84 wRC+ ranked 24th in MLB. Defensively, they were 13th among all teams in outs above average in left field. And they were last in Statcast’s baserunning above average. The bar would be low for Domínguez to prove that he could outperform what the Yankees have already received from left fielders this year.

The Yankees will likely be cautious about how much Domínguez plays if he is called up, as they’ll want to ensure he retains his rookie status for 2025. He needs to stay under the career 130 at-bat threshold to be considered a rookie next year (Domínguez has 35 career at-bats). If he wins Rookie of the Year in 2025, the Yankees would receive a conditional draft pick at the end of the first round.

There’s no downside. They need to see if Domínguez can win the everyday left-field job.

Kuty: You make compelling points, Chris. I’ll play Devil’s Advocate.

Would calling up Domínguez and giving him a month-long audition be exciting? Absolutely. Could you also argue that it may be impractical? Perhaps.

There’s no guarantee Domínguez would arrive in the Bronx and immediately put on the show he did in his debut last year, hitting four home runs with a .980 OPS in eight games before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament. That was electric. It would also be asking a lot.

Last year, when Domínguez broke into the majors on Sept. 1, the Yankees were hardly in contention. They were three games under .500. They were 17 1/2 games back in the AL East. The Yankees talked like they were still going for it, but a playoff-less October felt like a near inevitability. There was little pressure for Domínguez.

This would be different. Could he handle it? He absolutely could. He’s handled all the hype that came with his franchise-record $5.1 million signing bonus at age 16. But there’s no denying it would be a lot to put on the shoulders of the 21-year-old. Not to mention our next question …

If they called him up, what happens to the roster?

Kirschner: Yankees manager Aaron Boone said if Domínguez were to be called up, they would ideally want him playing regularly to not stunt his development. That would mean Alex Verdugo would lose his starting job. It may also mean Trent Grisham gets pushed down further on the depth chart. On the days Aaron Judge started as the team’s designated hitter, Domínguez could start in center field.

Maybe the Yankees wouldn’t want to ruffle the clubhouse by replacing Verdugo — whom Judge personally advocated trading for this offseason and in years prior — to start a rookie. But Verdugo has had nearly a season’s worth of games to prove he shouldn’t compete with a rookie for his job, and he’s failed.

He’s graded out as a negative offensively, on the base paths and public advanced defensive metrics are split on his value. Is that not enough for the organization to believe it may be able to do better by trying someone different? And if Domínguez doesn’t work out over the next month, well, they’ve remained in first place with Verdugo being one of MLB’s worst everyday position players.

There seems to be a higher likelihood of Domínguez being a more impactful player than Verdugo in October.

Kuty: I could see that. You certainly could argue that Domínguez has a higher ceiling offensively than Verdugo — even in the short term. There’s no sugarcoating it: The 28-year-old has not been what the Yankees expected at the plate.

The Devil’s Advocate argument, though, would be that Verdugo has actually looked like a strong and, at times, excellent defensive left fielder. He’s had a few memorable gaffes, but he’s also someone I think makes just about all the routine plays, sacrifices his body and has a heck of an arm. Plus, he’d be much more familiar with the position than Domínguez when it’s crunch time in October.

If the Yankees were to promote Domínguez and bench Verdugo, I think there would be a non-zero chance the team could designate Trent Grisham for assignment and have Verdugo take over his role as fourth outfielder.

Understanding that it’s a small sample, Verdugo has looked a bit better at the plate lately. Entering Friday, he was on a five-game hitting streak (.421 BA, 1.029 OPS), which coincided with when he switched to batting gloves made with materials that stopped causing allergic reactions on his skin. Verdugo struck out in all three of his at-bats Friday night.

As for the clubhouse, I think it would handle the move fine. Like you said, Verdugo has had plenty of time to prove himself, and it’s not like they would be replacing him with a nobody.

What do we think happens?

It’s not a slam dunk that Domínguez will be the choice on Sunday. If the Yankees decide to make an internal move, Domínguez is likely the candidate.

However, the Yankees could opt for an external candidate. The St. Louis Cardinals designated Tommy Pham for assignment on Friday. If the Yankees are looking for a platoon partner for Verdugo, signing Pham might be a good move. Pham has a .762 OPS this year against left-handed pitching, whereas Verdugo had a .609 OPS against lefties entering Friday. Another external option would be Robbie Grossman, whom the Texas Rangers designated for assignment on Thursday. Grossman’s OPS against lefties is .819 OPS this season and .809 for his career.

All season, the Yankees have lauded Verdugo for his bat-to-ball skills. If they wanted to keep playing him often, having a platoon partner could be the best way to maximize his production.

(Photo of Jasson Domínguez: Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)