Coco Gauff emerged from her slump at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, but she is still heading home to Florida earlier than she would have liked.
The American world No. 3 won two matches here, but then lost to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland Wednesday in the round of 16 in three sets.
Bencic, who has been on a stirring run since returning to the WTA Tour after giving birth to her first child, recovered from a shaky first set to topple Gauff, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on the main stadium.
Gauff appeared in control after a fairly straightforward first set. As a trainer bandaged a blister on Bencic’s foot, Gauff strolled out to the court and calmly practised serves.
But just when it seemed like she might prove too much for a hobbled opponent, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist popped off her chair and stormed to a second-set lead as Gauff’s forehand went down a few clicks on the steadiness scale.
In recent months, Gauff has tried to cure years of forehand issues with a new aggressiveness on the shot, trying to hit the ball through the court, or at least to put her opponent on the defensive the first chance she gets.
It’s possible she over-corrected slightly Wednesday afternoon in California, missing big on opportunities that might not have been as ripe as they appeared.
“She hits the ball so low and flat, so it’s tough to hit how I would like,” Gauff said when it was over.
“I think there is a balance in it, but I think today, honestly, I felt like I let her dictate a lot from the backhand corner. I think that’s something that I don’t want to happen — I feel like that’s the corner I should be dictating.”
In Bencic, she faced an opponent who has become one of the toughest outs in the sport over the last few months.
She gave Gauff nearly all she could handle in January at the Australian Open, when Gauff needed three sets to beat her.
Bencic said after that she wasn’t ready to match Gauff in a three-setter yet. But a few weeks later she won the WTA 500 title in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, less than 10 months after giving birth to her daughter Bella.
She came back from a set down then, to beat another American, Ashlyn Krueger, in the final.
“The body is holding up much better now,” Bencic said at the end. She has returned to the sport with a different perspective than she had before she became a mother.
“What tennis means to me changed,” she said. “It means a lot, but it’s not my whole world anymore.”
Bencic was clearly ready to go the distance Wednesday, while Gauff continues to be something of an ongoing renovation project. She began working with Matt Daly, a grip specialist, in September. She has slightly altered how she holds the racket when she serves, which in turn requires a slightly altered motion that she is still figuring out.
The long-term plan is to fix the streaks of double faults that plagued her late 2024 season, but it comes at a short-term cost: She double-faulted more than 30 times in her first two matches in California.
Her serve was mostly fine Wednesday, when her forehand was more problematic and Bencic’s backhand was devastating. She packs one of the game’s great groundstrokes on that wing, a quick, rolling shot that dives into the deepest spots on the court over and over. It neutralized one of Gauff’s biggest weapons, her own cross-court backhand.
“I still think I could have served better,” Gauff said after the match. “Obviously more consistent, but I definitely want to get more aggressive with it. I started the tournament not serving well, so it’s more so just trying to get it in.”
The third set had both players playing their best tennis of the day at the same time, with Gauff trying to use her power and incredible ability to redirect an incoming ball to overcome Bencic’s steadiness and relentless depth.
As she so often does, Bencic also showcased her ability to short-hop the ball off both sides, taking away Gauff’s ability to wear her down with the deep and looping forehand she uses to hang in rallies.
The match took its decisive turn at 4-4 in the third set. With Gauff up 40-0, climbed back off a forehand error, a hammered service return and a weak drop shot attempt by Gauff. Then Gauff flew a short forehand off the court and Bencic finished things off in the next game. Gauff, who turns 21 Thursday, has plenty of time on her side, even if it ran out in the desert, which she said she will leave with a few regrets.
“Especially in that last game, up 40-0, I probably could have went bigger in those moments,” she said.
From 80 feet away, Bencic said she could sense Gauff feeling her nerves, and she decided that was the moment to pound away at Gauff’s weakness.
“I felt like she was more tense and that was the right time to go for the forehand,” Bencic said. “It was an instinctive choice.”
It proved to be the right one. [New York Times]
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