Gauff beats curfew clock, into Wimbledon quarters
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- Coco Gauff dropped the opening set but rallied to beat Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday, reaching her first Wimbledon quarterfinal—the only major where the No. 7 seed had yet to reach the last eight.
- Gauff converted her first match point at 10:58 p.m. local time, just two minutes before the All England Club's 11 p.m. curfew; had she been broken, the match would have been suspended and resumed Monday.
- At 22, Gauff became the youngest American woman to reach the quarterfinals at every Grand Slam since Serena Williams did so at 19 at the 2001 French Open.
- Jessica Pegula beat fellow American Iva Jovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 earlier Sunday, setting up the first all-American Wimbledon women's match between top-10 seeds since the 2009 final between Serena and Venus Williams.
- Barbora Krejcikova fell 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 to fellow Czech Karolina Muchova, guaranteeing a 10th different women's Wimbledon champion in 10 years—the longest such streak in tournament history.
- Gauff improved to 23-7 in three-setters at majors—the third-best record by any woman in the Open era behind Steffi Graf and Wendy Turnbull (minimum 25 matches)—after notching her 17th major-match win from a set down.
Why it matters: Gauff's Wimbledon breakthrough matters in context: at 22, she is the youngest American woman to reach the last eight at all four majors since Serena Williams. The wider women's draw is now guaranteed a 10th different Wimbledon champion in 10 years—a record streak that frames how wide-open the post-Serena era has become.
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