Coco Gauff Channels Her Inner Serena to Storm Into Miami Open Semi-Finals

Home Crowd Hero Makes History in Miami

Just weeks after an injury scare that threatened to derail her Miami Open campaign entirely, Coco Gauff has powered her way into the semi-finals with a gritty 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over 12th seed Belinda Bencic. In doing so, the 22-year-old from Delray Beach became the youngest American to reach this stage of the tournament since a certain Serena Williams managed it back in 2004. Not bad company to keep.

A Rollercoaster Three-Setter

The fourth seed looked imperious in the opening set, converting her break-point chances with clinical efficiency and reportedly winning 94% of her first-service points in that opener (though that particular stat comes from a single source, so take it with a pinch of salt). Either way, she was untouchable.

Then Bencic remembered she is rather good at tennis herself. The Swiss player flipped the script entirely in the second set, breaking Gauff's serve multiple times to level the match at one set apiece with a commanding 6-1 win. The momentum had swung, and the home crowd held its collective breath.

The decider was pure theatre. Bencic broke early to lead 3-2, and it felt like Gauff might be in real trouble. What followed, though, was the sort of response that separates the elite from the merely excellent. Gauff broke straight back and then reeled off four consecutive games to seal the match in approximately two hours and 15 minutes. She finished the contest having converted nine of her 13 break-point opportunities, a conversion rate that would make any player on tour envious.

The Comeback Nobody Expected

Here is the thing that makes this run all the more impressive: it very nearly did not happen at all. On 8 March, Gauff retired from her Indian Wells match against Alexandra Eala whilst trailing 6-2, 2-0, suffering from a nerve issue in her left arm. She described the sensation as feeling "like a firework was going off" in her arm. It was only the second time in her career she has retired from a WTA match.

The fact that she even turned up in Miami was a minor victory. The fact that she is now in the semi-finals is something else entirely.

A Quiet Milestone Worth Shouting About

Lost in the drama of the match itself is a genuinely remarkable achievement. By reaching the quarter-finals earlier in the tournament, Gauff became the youngest player ever to reach the last eight at all 10 current WTA 1000 events. At just 22, that kind of consistency across every major non-Grand Slam tournament is staggering. Her previous best in Miami had been the fourth round, which she reached in 2022, 2024, and 2025 without ever breaking through further. That barrier has now been well and truly smashed.

What Comes Next

Gauff faces 13th seed Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals, after the Czech player saw off Canada's Victoria Mboko (the 10th seed) 7-5, 7-6(5) in her own quarter-final. It is also Muchova's first Miami Open semi-final, reached at her fifth attempt.

On paper, though, this one looks favourable for the American. Gauff leads their head-to-head record 5-0, with the most recent meeting coming at the 2026 Australian Open, where she won 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. The pattern of that scoreline might look familiar after today's effort.

Of course, head-to-head records only tell you what has already happened, not what will happen next. But if Gauff can bring the same resilience she showed against Bencic, the home crowd in Miami could be in for quite the treat.

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