LONDON — Coco Gauff clinched a dramatic late-night victory over Belinda Bencic to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time in her career.
The two-time Grand Slam champion, who reached the fourth round as a 15-year-old in 2019, finally made the last eight in her seventh appearance at the All England Club with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Gauff will face fourth seed Jessica Pegula in an all-American quarter-final.
“Super happy to be in the quarters finally, I was looking at the clock the last service game,” said the seventh seed after a match which finished at 10:58 pm local time, just before the 11:00 pm curfew.
“That match point I was going for a serve and volley… I think that’s the first time I’ve had to race against time,” she added according to AFP.
“In tennis, we’re not used to it and I’m glad I didn’t choose basketball.”
