Gauff passes Bencic test to advance to last eight at Australian Open

Coco Gauff rallied from a set down to beat Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday, reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and extending her winning streak from the start of the season to nine matches.

Switzerland's Bencic, ranked a lowly 294th after returning to the tour following the birth of her daughter, had won seven of her eight meetings with major champions, and showed why as she took the first set amid bright sunshine at Rod Laver Arena.

The USA's World No. 3 Gauff, who had not previously dropped a set in 2025, came out firing at the start of the second set, however, and was rewarded for her more aggressive shot-making when she leveled the contest at 1-1.

Bencic had a look at Gauff's serve in the opening game of the decider, but the 2023 U.S. Open champion slammed the door shut before breaking for a 3-1 lead, as the net cord twice conspired against her opponent.

The 27-year-old Swiss looked broken by her bad luck, and Gauff rattled off the last three games to seal the victory and set up a last-eight date with Spain's Paula Badosa.

"I thought in the first set she played great tennis, it was tough for me to be more on offence," Gauff said. "Overall I'm happy with how I played, the first set could have gone my way with a few more points, and I played more aggressively in the second set, then reset to play my best in the third."

The American will not be entirely happy with nine double faults among a total tally of 45 unforced errors, nor with a 40 percent success rate on her second serve, as she looks to at least match her run to the semifinals in Melbourne last year.

"We worked very hard in the offseason, obviously there's still a lot for me to go to accomplish my goal," Gauff said. "Maybe a couple of years ago, if I lost the first set I might lose the match, and I remember my dad said, 'we've got to toughen you up.' I was just trying to put myself in the position where I could leave the court and feel proud of myself."

In the day's other matches, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus knocked out Mirra Andreeva of Russia 6-1, 6-2. She will next face another Russian player, No. 27 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Croatia's Donna Vekic 7-6(0), 6-0.