Confident enemies Bencic, Gauff Set for the first tone meeting

Regardless of the size of the large or small draw, Coco GaISF and Belinda Bencic somehow made themselves a habit of tearing down at tournaments this year.

After the couple will meet each other a third time in the Australian Open and Indian Wells Fourth in four months, this time in the quarter -finals in the Mutua Madrid Open.

They shared their two previous encounters this season and are 2-2 against each other. However, this will be her first showdown on Clay and Gauff is bothering her chances of red dirt after falling on Bencic in three sets in Indian Wells last month.

“IT will be interesting. I know that she beats a bit flatter and I hit harder, so I would like to think that it probably prefers a little more, ”said GaISF about the challenge in front of her.

“But obviously she last hit me at Indian Wells and she is a tough opponent, so it will be a hard game.”

Gauff and Bencic had very different routes in round 16 in the Caja Magica. The fourth Gaisk seeds only took 66 minutes to get past her American American colleague Ann Li 6-2, 6: 3 on Saturday.

Bencic, on the other hand, survived a three-hour tug of war with Brazilian Lefty Beatriz Haddad Maia before going through 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2).

The Swiss Olympic gold medalist was a 0-3 double break in the decisive set and extinguished 1: 4 deficit before storming into the 16th round for the fourth time in the last four appearances at the tournament.

Bencics White Match Kit was covered with sound, maybe a precise representation of how difficult she had to fight to overcome Haddad Maia.

“It was crazy. I always feel like I feel like Bia, it is a very hard match and I expected that we share a big fight, and for me it is very uncomfortable to play,” said Bencic, who has returned from maternity leave at the end of last year and is already a list of titles and back to number 42 in the world.

“I think I also for you, and we always have great exercises during training. It was crazy and only I think we fought. I saw her fight, so I thought I had to fight more than you to beat her.”

Bencic won the French Open Junior title in 2013, compared to other surfaces does not feel most comfortable on sound.

“It was a long journey. I know that people use this argument against me, but I just have the feeling that it is very, very different,” says the 28-year-old when she is reminded of her junior success on Clay.

“It is funny that it started, but it obviously took a long time until it improved. Obviously I play here because I have the feeling that the dishes are very hard here and the sound is very good. So it is as if not as many bad bounces, they can move pretty well.

Gauff is a natural talent to sound and has transferred its success from juniors to their professional career and reached the Roland Garros final in 2022.

After a difficult start against Dayana Yastremska two days earlier, Gauff had a stress -free third round against Li and seems to enjoy her time in Madrid, where she had a fun but unusual encounter with a fan.

“I think, like two years ago, she (a fan) asked me to sign her arm, and she said she would tattoo it and I didn’t believe her. And then I saw her here and she actually tattooed it, so that’s pretty crazy for me, ”said Gauuff in her interview on Saturday.

“I think there is another person who tattooed me in Madrid. So it is strange that two people have me on their body. But I love the Madrid fans, especially this tournament always produces a lot of children. I just like to play in front of everyone, but especially children.”