2025 Madrid Open has seen USA tennis player Coco Gauff advance to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the year, and in style.
The 21-year-old defeated Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in straight sets on Monday, April 28, winning 6-4, 6-2 in the round of 16.
This season’s third meeting between Gauff and Bencic took place on Monday.
After defeating the gold medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the Australian Open, Gauff lost to Bencic at the Indian Wells Open last month.
Gauff will face teenage phenom Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-1 6-4, in the Madrid Open quarterfinals for the first time.
With just a 125-point gap in this year’s standings favoring the USA athlete, Bencic and Gauff were evenly matched coming into their third meeting of the 2025 season. They had each won one match.
Olympic gold medallist Bencic saved two break points at 2-3, but Gauff won the break at the third attempt after to an incredible winner down the line. She had an 86% first-serve win percentage and a solid lead thanks to her six return winners in the first set.
The Swiss, who was still full of confidence, saved two set points on her serve and rallied back with a break of her own to even the score at 4-4. Gauff, however, claimed the set off Bencic’s failed drop shot, making it his third consecutive lucky run.
