Coco Gauff beat Belinda Bencic in an ill-tempered match at the China Open on Tuesday.
Gauff is the defending champion at the event and now remains on course to get her hands back on the trophy once again.
The 21-year-old did things the hard way, coming from the depths of a defeat to claim success and reach the quarterfinal.
Gauff had a spat with Bencic at one point of the match, with the Swiss player seemingly unhappy at the support the American was receiving.
Gauff uses the China Open as a practice tournament and as a result, she appears relaxed when she’s out on the court.
As for Bencic, she’s wasted a huge chance to progress at the tournament and it’s largely down to herself…
The big mistake Belinda Bencic was guilty of against Coco Gauff
Ultimately, Bencic fluffed her lines at the China Open on this occasion.
Bencic beat Gauff at Indian Wells earlier this year, and this should have been another famous victory for the player.
Instead, she did something inexplicable with the game firmly in her hands at a set and a break up on Gauff, who looked out of sorts.
Gauff wasn’t impressed with Bencic as she went on a tirade towards the umpire and the American over some cheering that the world number three’s box was doing in support of their player.
Fine if she wasn’t happy with something, but why be so vocal about it when you’re just a few games from victory and literally everything is going in your favour.
All Bencic proceeded to do was fire up Gauff and inspire her into action to claim a brilliant comeback victory.
There is a real lesson to be learned here by the 28-year-old, and this now feels like a wasted opportunity.
Bencic needs to learn from Gauff debacle
Bencic was rude and quite aggressive to Gauff on the court, and it felt a little bit uncalled for.
Lots of players do master the dark arts, but Gauff is and never will be one of those players who leave no stone unturned to gain an advantage over their opponent by using gamesmanship.
Bencic is the world number 18 at the moment, and earlier this year, she was brilliant as she reached the semifinal of Wimbledon before losing to Iga Swiatek.
The 2021 Olympic gold medalist would be wise to get her emotions in check in the future.
This was a defeat that she managed to snatch from the jaws of victory and the hope will be that she can learn from this ahead of future tournaments.
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