American tennis star Coco Gauff punched her ticket to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the very first time late Sunday evening, defeating Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic in a rollercoaster three-set match that wrapped up just two minutes before the tournament’s strict 11 p.m. noise curfew.
The seventh-seeded Gauff, 22, came away with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory under the closed roof on Court One. The match was far from flawless — Gauff racked up 46 unforced errors and nine double faults — but her aggressive style produced 35 winners compared to just 19 for 11th-seeded Bencic, who is 29 years old.
“I’m super happy to be in the quarters finally — I don’t know how many tries it’s been,” Gauff said in a quick courtside interview following the win. She will next take on fellow American Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals.
Bencic, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year and claimed Olympic gold in 2021, controlled the opening set, clinching it on her third set point when Gauff sent a return into the net.
Gauff, who first captured the hearts of Wimbledon fans back in 2019 when she reached the fourth round as a 15-year-old, regrouped in the second set. She broke Bencic’s serve twice while only losing her own once, and pulled off a clever drop shot and a beautifully placed lob to force a deciding third set.
The two-time Grand Slam champion dominated the third set, pushing Bencic into a defensive position with sharp, corner-finding shots. As the clock crept toward the venue’s closing deadline, Gauff set up match point with a smash and sealed the win with a powerful serve that Bencic could not return.
“I was looking at the clock in the last service game and on that match point I was going for serve and volley as I was wanting to end the point,” Gauff said. “I’m not used to racing for time as we’re not used to having to finish by a certain time.”
The All England Club sits in a residential area of southwest London and enforces a firm curfew on night play.
Despite the pressure-filled finish, Gauff said the victory felt meaningful and left her wanting more. “Even though it was a tough match I feel this was my best match of the tournament,” she said.
