Former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic pulled off a stunning upset on Wednesday, defeating third seed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals.
The Swiss wildcard, who gave birth to her daughter Bella in April last year, showcased her resilience by winning 69% of her first-serve points and breaking the former US Open champion three times in a grueling two-hour, 20-minute battle.
In a tightly contested third set, Bencic made the decisive move, rallying from 0-40 down to break Gauff for a 5-4 lead. She then closed out the match on her first match point when Gauff sent a forehand long.
“Obviously, this is why you practice and work hard your whole life—to play in this kind of atmosphere,” Bencic said in her on-court interview.
“The way you cheered before the match… I had chills and goosebumps. I was so nervous I just tried to get my serve in.”
Gauff started aggressively but struggled with her serve, committing five double faults in the opening set—including three in a single game. Despite that, she was only broken once and wrapped up the set in 51 minutes when Bencic misfired a forehand wide.
However, Bencic found her rhythm in the second set, storming to a 4-1 lead and sealing it when Gauff netted a return. The Swiss also endured multiple medical timeouts for foot and hand issues but powered through to force a decider.
Before the final set, Bencic took another medical timeout to treat a blister on her hand, but it didn’t stop her from delivering a clutch performance to secure the win.
She now awaits the winner of Thursday’s matchup between Australian Open champion and fifth seed Madison Keys and 19th-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic.
Meanwhile, women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka will take on Britain’s Sonay Kartal, with the winner advancing to a quarterfinal clash against either Jasmine Paolini or Liudmila Samsonova.
