Gauff leads American charge at Madrid Open

Coco Gauff, on the strength of her 6-2, 6-3 Saturday victory over Ann Li, joined fellow American Madison Keys in the Round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Four other United States players still have the prospect of joining them: No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Emma Navarro, No. 32 Sofia Kenin and Peyton Stearns.

After losing the two opening games to Li, Gauff ran off eight straight and coasted to the victory. The victory equaled Gauff’s best performance here in Madrid, achieved in 2022 and 2024. Madrid remains one of only three tournaments she’s played four-plus times and is yet to advance to at least the quarterfinals, along with Wimbledon and the Miami Open.

On Monday, Gauff will play Belinda Bencic, who outlasted No.16 Beatriz Haddad Maia in 3 hours, 3 minutes.

“It will be an interesting one,” Gauff said of Bencic. “I know she hits a little bit more flatter and I hit heavier, so I would like to think it favors me more. But, obviously, she beat me last time in Indian Wells [in March] and she’s always a tough opponent.”

Gauff, who turned 21 last month, has been remarkably consistent on this surface against players she’s expected to beat. After losing her first career clay-court WTA match to an opponent ranked outside the Top 50 — Martina Trevisan at Roland Garros 2020 — Gauff has now won all 29 of those matches.

Gauff converted five of her nine break-point opportunities against Li and she’s now 70-for-128 (.547) on the year. She’s third among WTA Tour players, behind only Polina Kudermetova (.562) and Emma Raducanu (.561).

“Overall, a solid performance,” Gauff said. “I was just trying to stay steady. She was throwing in some errors today. I felt like I didn’t have to do too much, except push her to play more defense.”

Earlier, avenging a straight-sets loss earlier this month in Charleston, Keys defeated Anna Kalinskaya 7-5. 7-6 (3).