Miami Open '26: Carlos’ loss causes chaos, Gauff does it AGAIN! Can Muchova finally beat her?

Coco Gauff earned her fourth consecutive three-set win at the Miami Open after defeating Belinda Bencic in a spirited battle. Up next for Gauff is an in-form Karolina Muchova who seeks her first win vs the American. On the men's side, Carlos Alcaraz's exit leave a wide open top-half with no top-20 players remaining.

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Coco Goff has solidified herself as the three-set queen in the 305 after securing another extended win against Belinda Bencic to reach the Miami Open Final Four. She'll face a familiar foe, the informed Carolina Muhova, who has never beaten the American in five previous tries. I'll preview the semifinal showdown and whether this would be Carolina's time, plus look at the men's draw, which is completely wide open in the top half, all thanks to Carlos Alcaraz. Hello, my name is Christian Bassnight, and welcome to Christian's Court where I cover tennis from all angles. If you have not yet already, make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell so you're notified whenever I post more Miami Open updates. So Coco Golf, she improves now to five and two against Belinda Bencic career-wise with a 6-3-1-6-6-3 win over the Swiss woman and two hours and 15 minutes. Now, quite a few people doubted Coco in this one. And my last video, I said that her win over Christia really solidified that this was like a breakthrough tournament for her. And I saw a few people comment why are you saying breakthrough? She hasn't even beat this beaten a seeded opponent yet. And also none of the players that she faced were in the top 30. But Benchitch, she's ranked 12 in the world, and she had just dispatched of Amanda Annie Simova 6'2, 6'2. But I've said in my latest video again that I've been very pleased with what I've seen from golf this tournament, and I felt like the adjustments that she's made in her game in this tournament would pay off and get her the win, which of course it did. And Coco played a great opening set. It was aggressive-minded from her, but also well within herself. She hit 12 winners, 12 unforced errors, and was much more consistent than Bencic, who hit just four winners to 15 unforced errors. Golf was broken once in the opening set, but she was still dominant behind her serve for the most part. She won 94% of her first serve points, which is exceptional. She played almost half as many points behind her serve as Bencic, who struggled a lot in her service game. She was not getting as many free points behind her serve as Belinda won just 55% of first serve points in the opening set. Credit to Coco, though, she was neutralizing a lot of those Benchich first serves very well with her strong returning. It was just really confident tennis from golf. She incorporated a few serving volleys too, like she did in her previous round against Serana Cristella with great success, and she won all eight points at the net in the first set. Now the second set was almost a reversal of the first because Benchich's serving numbers were outstanding. Belinda, she made 78% of her first serves in play and also won 78% of points behind the first serve. And the Swiss woman, she won 80% of her seconds or points too, which is exceptional. I honestly don't think Belinda, you know, drastically served better as far as like her serve itself, but I think she backed up her serve much better. She stayed closer to the baseline and took the ball earlier, which of course took time away from Goff. I also think Goff's return quality dipped in the second set. She didn't make as many returns back in play. And also Coco's first serve points one percentage dropped drastically. It went from 94% first serve points one to 40% in the second set. And I think that just came down to her not hitting her spots as well. And that enabled Benches to get the ball back on her quicker. Golf, she was pushed back further in the baseline compared to set number one. And it's been made clear this week that Coco simply plays her best tennis when she's more aggressive-minded and when she is closer to the baseline, as opposed to being more defensive. And also, she was just more air prone. She hit just two winners in the second set to 13 unforced errors. And I think we saw a few unforced errors from the backhand, which was due, in my opinion, to the net clearance just not being as well as it could have been. I think she hit her backhand a little bit too flat and low to the net. Now the third set, just utterly impressive from golf. The opening game of the decider was very important. Benchich had a break point, but Goff put a stop to Belinda's momentum and really served herself out of trouble. She hit an unreturnable and then an ace and then closed it out with another good point. And I thought a pivotal turning point of the match would be that two-all game where Coco had 40 love for a routine service hold, but ultimately got broken, losing five points in a row. And that would rattle so many players. But Coco actually did not lose another game after that one. Now she didn't cruise to the finish line by any means. Bencic had two game points that following game for a 4-2 advantage, but Goff battled back to break thanks to some quality returning and ball striking. Goff was pushed to deuce the following game at 3-all, but a timely drop shot helped get her out of trouble. Speaking of which, the drop shot was key for Goff throughout the match, especially towards the end of it, as I don't think she lost a single point whenever she used the drop shot. And it was a smart play because Belinda isn't the fastest woman on tour, but also she may have been dealing with the hip or side issue. I think the conclusion of the match ultimately came down to fitness. And of course, Goff was the fitter of the two, and she continues to confirm that she is by far, bar none, the best athlete in women's tennis right now. I mean, gotta give a moment for this reaction, too. She was feeling it, Mama Goff was feeling it, everybody was feeling it. And again, this has been one of Coco's most impressive tournaments to me. To me, it's even more impressive than her Wuhan win or her Rolling Girls win last year. And I say that because it's kind of unexpected. Yes, Coco is the fourth seed, so she should make it to the semifinals, but she had that injury to her left arm at Indian Wells and was even unsure herself of if she would play. And she said that she mainly played because it was her home 1000 tournament in Florida, Miami. Also, Coco had never made it to the quarterfinals here in Miami, and her team told her to skip this tournament, but maybe that's why she's playing so well because there's less expectations on her. And one thing I've noticed with Coco is that she tends to play some of her best tennis whenever her team tells her or advises her to maybe skip events because they told her to skip Beijing 2024 and also I think Wuhan 2025, and she won both those tournaments. And that just goes to show how mental it is with Coco because when the pressure isn't as high, she again plays her best tennis. And I saw a few tweets of people saying that her team needs to tell her to skip Wimbledon or Roland Garros or all the slams in 2027. But the reason why Coco has been playing so well is first, her serve has been exceptional. She hasn't hit too many double faults. The last two rounds, she's hit 11 double faults combined, which for Coco is great, especially considering that these were two pretty competitive three-set matches. I've also been impressed with how well the serve has held up under the pressure. Not only has it held up, but it's been an asset for her. It's helped her get out of trouble with strong serves and aces. And the way that she's been problem solving and grinding through these matches and the adversity that she's faced this tournament has been very admirable too. All four matches that she's played thus far have been three-setters. And in all of them, her back was against the wall at some point. She's been making just big breakthroughs in her game. Again, playing aggressive, but using her defense as more of a supplementary aid rather than relying on it and that being her main game plan. And Coco even said herself that her level is getting better round by round. And I think that she truly can take it all, which I did not think I would be saying at all at the start of this tournament. Now, golf will need to get by Carolina Mujova first before reaching Saturday's final. And I did get this result wrong. Mujova took down Vicky Mboko 7-5-7-6 for her fifth W-Tay 1000 semifinal. This was a rematch of the Doha final, which Mujova also won in straight sets. Matchups can be definitely interesting because Vicky has more firepower from the ground than golf does. But it seems like Carolina can be more of an aggressive player against Mboko compared to whenever she faces against Golf. And I think the biggest reason for this is that Vicky gives Carolina far more forehands compared to Golf. Muhova's forehand is one of the best on tour. I think it's a really underrated shot. And it also allows her to dictate points and come forward to the net where she's very comfortable. Coco's game plan against Muhova is obvious to attack Carolina's backhand relentlessly with heavy spin and also extract errors from just her impeccable defensive skills. And that works well for her, obviously. And Umboko, I think, just tried to go toe-to-toe with Muhova from the ground a little bit too much. And I think Vicky is just a tad bit too one-dimensional for this type of matchup. Carolina, I think she prefers this type of dynamic, given her success against Sabalenka and Rabakina in the past. Even Igos Fiontek, she dominated Muhova at Indian Wells, only dropping, I believe, two games. And I think that's because she was able to make the Czech woman uncomfortable with her heavier spins. I think it's also important to note though that Carolina, right now in Miami, is playing better tennis than she did at Indian Wells and even in Melbourne when she faced Coco in that fourth-round match. That said, Mboko had her chances in this match, although they were very slim. She had two break looks total. The first one came in Carolina's first service game of the match, which Mujova saved with the serve plus one. The second break point for Mboko was set point at 5'4 in the second set, and it was a very similar point, serve out wide, followed by an overhead winner. Carolina served very well throughout this match, and I think she did a great job of mixing up the serves well, going wide, you know, also body serves against Umboco. And overall, she's playing great tennis right now. She finished this match with 31 winners to 15 unforced heirs, and I think she's playing some of the best tennis of the tournament. The question is though, can she finally get over the hump and beat Coco Golf for the first time? Talking about where Muhova has the edge, I think she's coming into this match with more confidence compared to matches prior against golf. She's now a W-Tay 1000 champion, and she also took her first set off of golf at Melbourne. And that was a tight match. So I think that match alone, knowing that she came a little bit closer to beating golf, will give Carolina more confidence coming into this one. And also, I think a few of those matches, even though they ended in straight sets, were more competitive, or at least could have been more competitive, but Carolina didn't take her chances. And I think she did a much better job of seizing her opportunities and that Australian open match. I also think that golf's higher spinny forehand to the Mujova backhand likely won't be as effective because the ball bounce isn't as high in Miami. The ball bounces bounces a little bit lower. So I think that can help Muhova with that aspect of the game because Goff was tearing Carolina up with those shots in their previous matches. I also think that Carolina honestly is still playing a slightly better tennis than Coco overall, which of course can go a long way. Now, talking about where golf has the advantage, of course, the head-to-head edge will be huge for her. I think mentally that does a lot for both women when the head-to-head is so lopsided. And I think Coco, knowing that she's never beaten Muhova, that'll help her even more. Also, I think Coco, like she said, has been playing better round by round. So if the trend continues, she'll play her best tennis yet in the semifinal, which I think will be good enough to get her the win. Golf will also have the crowd edge in this match to help carry her through. And not to mention, I think Goff will be the best defensive player that Mohova has faced thus far. And I'm wondering how will Carolina deal with more balls coming back in play? She needs to be especially sharp at the net because Goff is one of the best passers in the game. And that's another reason of why Coco has a lot of success in this matchup, is that Muhova, she doesn't have as much success at the net because Coco can cover so much ground and can pass better than almost anyone else on the tour. Given my pick for this one, I'm having Coco win this in three sets. My reasons being I'm expecting Coco's level to rise even more. The matchup just favors her, and I think mentally she has that edge. Now looking at the men's side, Carlos Alcaraz, he was proven right when he said that the non-top players tend to peak against him because for the fourth straight time, the man who beat him before the finals has gone on to lose the next match. They get up for changes. Sebastian Corda was the latest victim of this pattern, as after beating Alcadas in the third round, he fell to another Spaniard, but this one was ranked 150 spots below Carlos. 20-year-old qualifier Martin Lendeluth earned the 2-6, 7-6-6-4 win over Sebastian to reach his first ATP tour quarterfinal. Before this week, Lendeluth had never before beaten a top 50 player, but in Miami, he's beaten three in a row. 17th seed Luciano Dardari, 14th seed Karen Hatchinoff, and now 32nd seeded Korda. And Corda he had a match point in the second set tie break at 6'5, but Lendeluth hit a return winner to help send it to a deciding set. And Martin also took advantage of a slightly hampered Sebastian who was dealing with a back injury. Now giving Sevy some grace, you know, of course the back injury needs to be taken into consideration, but it takes a high, high level to be an elite player like a Carlos Alcadas, and it can just be so difficult to sustain that level match by match. Landon Luthe also played good tennis too. He's a clean ball striker from the ground, a decent serve, but still Corda probably should have won this match. Alcadas' early exit really opened up the floodgates because with Taylor Fritz's 6'4, 6'7, 6'2 loss to Yuri Leheshka, there will be no top 20 player competing in the quarterfinals in the top half. Yuri, by the way, played just outstanding tennis in the third set of that match against Fritz. Also, with Archer Fees' 6'4, 6'7, 6'4 win over Valentin Vaschado, we will see a first-time ATP 1000 finalist. Now, for the second straight year in a row, Archer's made the quarterfinals of both Sunshine Double Tournaments, but he's 0-4 in ATP 1000 quarterfinals, so he's still looking for that first 1000 semifinal. He will take on Tommy Paul next, who dominated Tomas Martin Echveri 6'1-6-3. Paul has reached four ATP 1000 semifinals, so he has the experience edge in this one. He also has the head-to-head edge as he won their lone previous meeting back in 2023 in Shanghai, which was a tight three-setter. But I feel like it's feastes time though. I think he'll break through and reach the final four. And then in the other matchup, I'm picking Leheshka over Landaluthe. Now in the bottom half, the title favorite Yannick Center is still alive. He got through a very tight 7-5-7-6 fourth round match over Alex Mickelson. Yannick has now won 28 consecutive sets at the ATP 1000 level, dating back to his 2025 Paris indoor second round. Now the streak looked in jeopardy as Yannick trailed 2-5 in the second set. And Mickelson, he played a great match, played a great game at 3-2 to break Yannick. He had excellent depth on his shots and pressured the somewhat shaky center forehand. But I think Mickelson felt the moment when he served for the second set at 5-3. I think a few of those sloppy unforced airs just aren't going to cut it against a player like Yannick. And center said afterwards he felt that his serve got him out of a lot of trouble, especially in the important moments and in the tie break. And he said that if he wants to go far in this tournament, he's going to have to clean up his act a little bit and improve from the back of the court. Center was not happy with his ground game. He finished though with 17 winners and 17 unforced errors from the back of the court. Yannick will have a day off though to get his game tuned to his liking before facing Francis Tiafo on Thursday. Tiafo's into his first 1000 quarterfinals since Cincinnati 2024 when he defeated Terrence Attman 6'4-1664. This was a really impressive win from Francis. First, it's impressive that he bounced back after that long, thrilling three-set match over Yaakov Menjik the day prior. And he also faced major adversity because he trailed Love 40 at 4-all in the third set. And I feel like he would have lost a match like this last year. But it seems like he's a different Tiafo right now. Mentally, he's a little bit tougher. And I think that he's learned from these recent tough losses that he's faced, and he's a better player because of it, which is great. Yannick, of course, would be the big favorite in this matchup. He leads the head to head four to one. Francis' lone win was Vienna 2021. Their last meeting period was Cincinnati 2024 finals, which center won 7-6-6-2. Tia Alpha had, I think, a break chance at four-all to get the break advantage and maybe take the first set. But after Yannick won the opening set, he kind of low-key cruised to the title. That match, we saw a few longer extended rallies from the ground. So I wouldn't be surprised if we saw more of the same here. I do think though that Tialfo serve, while it has improved, is still to me not as big of a weapon as it should be to knock down Yannick. So I think that as well as Francis has not earned a top five win, not including Laver Cup, since 2022, where he beat Roth at the US Open. So I don't know it's gonna be a tough mountain to climb for him, but I think he can take Solace knowing that Yannick, like he said, is not feeling at his most comfortable right now from the ground, but still gonna have Fran, I'm still gonna have Center take this one in straight sets. Now the other quarterfinal in the bottom half will be between Alexander Zverev and Francisco Sarundalo. Zverev defeated World number 111, Quentin Halis in two tiebreak sets, while Serundalo down 31st seed, Uru Unbear 6'4, 6'3. This is Francisco's fourth quarterfinal in Miami in the past five years. So clearly he loves it here. The head-to-head between him and Zverev is tied at three apiece, and he won their first three matches. All those though were on clay, whereas Verev, he's now won their last three, and all of those matches were on hardcourt. So the matchup clearly favors him on this type of surface. I do think that Francisco is playing better tennis right now, so maybe he could do his big one again and get the win, but I don't know. I also think that Zverev with his more experience at this stage could have the edge. So I think I'm gonna have Zverev take this one in three sets to set another center Zverev quarter semifinal in the Sunshine Double. Briefly looking at the Wednesday order of play, Rabakana and Pagula, the biggest match by far opens up the day, followed by Linda Luthe and Leheshka. Then at the night session, we have Savanka against Baptiste, and then Tommy Paul against Arthur Feast. Definitely the men's match to watch on Wednesday. That's all I have for this Miami Open Update video. And let me know your thoughts on all the action that we witnessed on Tuesday. Make sure you give your predictions for the Golf Muhova semi-final match, as well as who do you think will come through the top half and reach the semifinals and ultimately the finals. And make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell so you are notified whenever I post my next manual video. Thank y'all so much for watching and for your support, and I will see y'all next time here on the Christians Court.