Bencic ousts Gauff in Indian Wells to continue strong comeback season

Wild card Belinda Bencic reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal as a mother with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of No. 3 seed Coco Gauff at the BNP Paribas Open in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Indian Wells: Draws | Scores | Order of play

The result levelled Bencic’s head-to-head with Gauff at two wins apiece, avenging a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 loss in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January. She advances to the last eight of Indian Wells for the second time following her 2019 semifinal run.

“This is why you’re practising and working hard all your life,” Bencic said in her on-court interview. “The cheers before the match point, I had chills and goosebumps and just put the serve into the court because I was so nervous.”

Former No. 4 Bencic, who gave birth to daughter Bella last April, was unranked on returning to professional action in October but has already risen to No. 58 this week after consistently excellent results this year. Her 16-4 overall record includes her ninth career title in Abu Dhabi last month, and the 28-year-old is guaranteed to return to the Top 50 next week. Her win over Gauff was her second Top 5 win over 2025 already, following her defeat of Elena Rybakina in the Abu Dhabi semifinals.

Bencic’s run means that a player returning from maternity leave and competing as a wild card has made the Indian Wells quarterfinals for a second year in a row, following Caroline Wozniacki’s last-eight showing in 2024.

Improved serving key for Bencic: In the first set, Bencic landed just 66% of her first serves and committed three double faults. Two of those came in one game, and Gauff took full advantage to get the crucial break for 4-2.

Bencic received treatment on her left foot after the first set, then cleaned her serve up emphatically in the second and third sets. She landed 70% of her first serves in the second and 83% in the decider, hit no more double faults and did not face another break point.

Gauff’s own serve had been under scrutiny in Indian Wells; the American had hit 30 double faults combined in her first two matches. She added another eight against Bencic, but aside from a trio in the third game of the match they did not come in spates. The most crucial was arguably the one that put her down 0-30 in her first service game of the second set: Bencic went on to break, and never looked back.

The deciding game: Through the first eight games of the third set, the pair were evenly matched and playing well at the same time. Bencic’s signature backhand down the line was on song; Gauff contributed several fine forehand winners of her own.

But at 4-4, she let a 40-0 lead slip with a series of mistakes: a poorly-executed drop shot that Bencic swatted away with ease, a pair of backhand mistakes and finally a forehand that ballooned over the baseline. Having stolen that game from a losing position, the Swiss player served the match out with little fuss.

Upset stat of the season: This result is the eighth match of the 2024 season in which a player ranked outside the Top 50 has defeated a Top 10 opponent. Bencic has been responsible for two of those wins; the full list is as follows:

No. 53 McCartney Kessler d. No. 3 Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-5, Dubai R2
No. 55 Olga Danilovic d. No. 6 Jessica Pegula 7-6(3), 6-1, Australian Open R3
No. 56 Sofia Kenin d. No. 4 Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-0, Dubai R3
No. 58 Belinda Bencic d. No. 3 Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Indian Wells R4
No. 89 Sorana Cirstea d. No. 9 Emma Navarro 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5, Dubai R2
No. 97 Laura Siegemund d. No. 5 Zheng Qinwen 7-6(3), 6-3, Australian Open R2
No. 113 Kimberly Birrell d. No. 8 Emma Navarro 7-5, 7-5, Brisbane R2
No. 157 Belinda Bencic d. No. 5 Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Abu Dhabi SF