South Florida native Coco Gauff is through to the semifinals of the Miami Open for the first time after rallying in the third set to defeat Belinda Bencic 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on Tuesday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Bencic, the 12th seed, led Gauff, the fourth seed, broke serve for a 3-2 lead in the final set. Gauff immediately broke back, beginning a run of four consecutive games won to seal the match.
In the semifinals, Gauff will oppose 13th-seeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, who edged 10th-seeded Victoria Mboko of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (5).
The matchup figures to favor Gauff, who has a 5-0 head-to-head edge on Muchova. The two most recently faced off in the round of 16 at this year’s Australian Open, where Gauff prevailed 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Gauff, 22, played in the Miami Open six times prior to this year, never getting past the fourth round.
On Tuesday, she rode her return to get past Bencic. Gauff converted nine of her 13 break-point opportunities, which helped her offset saving just one of Bencic’s five break points.
“It was a tough match,” Gauff said. “Belinda is a tough player. Every time we play, it’s a long match. It took a lot of running today, some falls, but I’m really proud of how I fought today. I think that’s been a theme of the week.
“It felt like today, my opponent, she raised her level, and I was able to raise it in the third.”
Muchova, 29, also will be in the Miami semifinals for the first time, in her fifth try.
Mboko had a chance to level the match when she had a set point on Muchova’s serve at 4-5 in the second set. Muchova held serve, then later ran out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker en route to closing out the win.
“I just tried to stay focused, stay aggressive,” Muchova said. “It was very close — basically one point at the end, and anything can change in tennis. I’m just very grateful I was able to win the last point.”
The other two semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday. Third-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan will face fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula of the United States before top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will clash with unseeded U.S. player Hailey Baptiste.
–Field Level Media
