Coco Gauff storms back to beat Belinda Bencic to make Wimbledon quarter-finals

[p]Neither player was at her ‌best after a long wait to come ‌on court but, while 11th seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bencic-belinda/ObGlDvu0/"]Bencic[/a], ‌29, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/bencic-b-ObGlDvu0/gauff-c-f5BXmEH6/?mid=GYYxluFl"]started the steadier[/a], seventh seed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gauff-coco/f5BXmEH6/"]Gauff[/a], 22, proved the more adventurous, hitting 35 winners ‌to Bencic's 19 though she ⁠also produced ‌46 unforced errors and nine double faults.[/p][p]Bencic, a ​semi-finalist here last year and Olympic champion in 2021, took the first ​set on her third set point when the erratic Gauff dumped a return ⁠into the net.[/p][p]Gauff, ​a favourite with the Wimbledon crowd since she reached the fourth round as a bubbly 15-year-old in 2019, found her range ‌in the second set, breaking Bencic's serve twice and dropping her own only once. She produced a drop shot and an exquisite lob to take the match into a third set.[/p][p]Playing some inspired tennis and finding the corners of the court, Gauff had Bencic on the ‌back foot in the third set.[/p][p]With the ​clock ticking down to Wimbledon's 11 ‌pm closure deadline, Gauff set up match point with a smash and won the battle with a big serve that Bencic could not return.[/p][p]"[b]I'm super happy to be in the quarters finally - I don't know how many tries it's ‌been,[/b]" Gauff, who will now face fellow ⁠American [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pegula-jessica/KdojxrAR/"]Jessica Pegula[/a], said in ‌a hurried courtside interview.[/p][embed guid="74426c01-c8d2-4c50-b0f0-b8c6c2f16d81" url="https://x.com/Wimbledon/status/2073891051941552597?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Bencic, a semi-finalist here last year and Olympic champion ​in 2021, took the first set on her third set point when the erratic Gauff dumped a return ​into the net.[/p][p]Gauff, a favourite with the Wimbledon crowd since she reached the fourth round as a bubbly 15-year-old in 2019, ⁠found her range in ​the second set, breaking Bencic's serve twice and dropping her own only once. She produced a drop shot and an exquisite lob to take the match into a third set.[/p][p]"[b]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.[/b][/p][p]"[b]I'm not used to racing for time as we're ‌not used to having to finish by a certain time.[/b]"[/p][p]The All England club is in a residential district of southwest London and has a strict curfew.[/p][p]Gauff said she was hungry for more after finally reaching the quarter-finals.[/p][p]"[b]Even though it ⁠was a tough match I ⁠feel this was my ‌best match of the tournament[/b]," she said.[/p]