Gauff eases past Bencic at WTA Madrid Open

Coco Gauff beat Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in straight sets to reach the WTA Madrid Open quarterfinals on Monday.

This was the third encounter of the season between the two. Gauff sent in a forehand winner to open a 3-2 lead against the Tokyo Olympics champion in the opener.

In the next game the American broke for a 4-2 lead. Although Switzerland's Bencic fought back to get level at 4-4, Gauff was able to stand firm and win the first set 6-4.

Bencic tried her best to comeback in the second. The 28-year-old landed an overhead winner but still fell behind to let her opponent break her again.

Gauff then broke one more time in the tenth game to take control. The 2023 US Open champion took another point with a backhand winner on her way to a 4-1 lead in the set.

Finally, when Bencic hit a backhand long, Gauff booked her place in the last eight for the first time with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. She will next face Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.

Minutes after the match ended, the arena was hit by widespread power outages across Spain, and her post match interview even fell victim to the lack of electricity.

"Yeah, definitely. I had avocado toast and what else did I have? Oh fruit! So that was pretty much it. It was an early start, I didn't sleep that well last night. So maybe I just need to like not get a lot of sleep," said Gauff before she was interrupted by the power cut.

The rest of Monday's play was thus abandoned. Only three matches were completed.