MIAMI — World No. 4 Coco Gauff is into her first Miami Open quarterfinal, defeating Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in a back-and-forth contest. She’s now the youngest player on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz to reach the quarterfinals at every existing 1000 event since the format was introduced in 2009.

Miami: Scores | Draws | Order of play

Gauff will face Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals of her hometown tournament after the Swiss upset Amanda Anisimova later on Monday.

“I guess it wouldn’t have to happen any other way than to put some work in,” Gauff said to press. “I think in the previous times I’ve played here, I’ve had some tough matches. Maybe mentally wasn’t in there. Today I just wanted to stay mentally in there.”

The theme of the match was break points as neither player was too effective on their serve. Through the first two sets alone, each player had broken the other five times more than the combined nine holds in that same span. However, Gauff pivotally held all her service games in the third set, a deciding factor in the final set.

“My serve worked really well until today,” Cirstea said. “I think today my serve was the one that let me down. I would have loved to be able to just hold serve.”

Both players had some strong winners, on both forehand and backhand, though Gauff had the upper edge winning 46 points when receiving compared to Cirstea’s 36. 

With Cirstea serving a 40-15, down 0-3 in the final set, a fan fell ill in the stands causing a lengthy delay, but ultimately the Romanian did hold with Gauff still up a break at 3-1, keeping the match one break back on serve.

However, Gauff won eight of the nine points in her final two service games to fend Cirstea off. Gauff has now won both meetings between the two, with the previous coming at the 2020 Australian Open.

“I think she served really well in important moments — 30-all or 40-30 or important moments — she really served well,” Cirstea said. “It was a little bit here and there, a couple of points, but I do think she was the better player.”

Another strong suit for the American was her play at the net. In her on-court interview and in press, Gauff, laughing, said she had seen a social media post that told her to go to net more, and she agreed.

During Cirstea’s penultimate service game, Gauff cleverly hit a slice, bringing the Romanian to the net. Cirstea sliced it back, but Gauff anticipated the move and with the open space, hit an easy winner.

“I guess I have to remember that part of my game,” Gauff said. “It’s something we do practice a lot, my coaches encourage a lot. I think just in the match situations just trying to remember what you practice and trusting that.

“I consider myself as someone who can volley decently well. I’m obviously not the best volleyer, but definitely not the worst. I think trying to remember that I can come up with some good volleys.”

On the third match point, it was fitting the American broke Cirstea’s serve, finishing the match with a backhand shot at the net, igniting the home crowd that did have some Romanian flags sparsely intertwined.

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