Coco Gauff and Belinda Bencic will take a familiar rivalry to an unfamiliar surface in the fourth round of Wimbledon after both players won their third round matches in three thrilling sets on Saturday at the All England Club.
After bowing out to Solana Sierra in the second round (the Argentine served for the match in the third set and led 7-4 in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker), Gauff had to dig deep again against fellow American Claire Liu to reach the fourth round for the fourth time at a grass major. She had three match points at 6-3, 5-4 before Liu rallied to force the final set. However, a break of serve in the first game of the final set brought Gauff back to square one for a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2 victory.
Last year’s semi-finalist Bencic, meanwhile, had to win her own third-set tiebreaker, ousting Anna Kalinska 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6) after she had previously twice led with a third-set break to reach the round of 16 for the fifth time.
Gauff had beaten Bencic in five of their previous seven meetings, but none of them took place on grass. Five of their head-to-head meetings to date have gone to three sets and Gauff is looking for her first ever place in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
Other numbers that mattered for both players – in the third round and before the round of 16 match – include:
5: Gauff is now 5-0 against his countrymen on the Mercedes-Benz WTA Tour this year. Bencic now has a 5-1 record against Kalinska.
22: Bencic now has 22 wins in the Wimbledon main draw, which is the best total of her career in a single tournament. She also has 22 victories in the main draw of the US Open.
23: Gauff is now 23-7 in three-set Grand Slam matches in his career, the third-best winning percentage in the Open era.
42: There are several ways to win a tennis match. Bencic scored 42 game-winning goals in the win over Kalinska, while Gauff only scored 18 points against Liu.
Gauff admits that clearing the fourth-round hurdle to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals would be a “great achievement” and says digging deep twice in the first three rounds will stand her in good stead in the second week.
“I don’t think I’m playing my best tennis. I think I didn’t serve as well today as I did in the last match, but I held my own when I needed to,” she said. “I’m definitely feeling more confident after the last few matches. Both of the opponents I’ve played against are high level players and very good grass players. Belinda will be the same. She’s good on this surface too, so it’s definitely going to be tough.”