WIMBLEDON — Belinda Bencic returned to the Wimbledon fourth round for the fourth time after coming from a break down in the third set to edge Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4, 3-6, 7-6[8] in 2 hours and 58 minutes.
Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws
The match was the second-longest of this year’s Championships so far, behind only Aliaksandra Sasnovich’s 3-hour, 24-minute 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6[8] first-round win over Varvara Gracheva. Bencic has now reached the last 16 of both of her Grand Slam events since returning from maternity leave, having also made that stage of the Australian Open. She was forced to miss Roland Garros due to an arm injury, only returning to action in Bad Homburg last week.
This marks the 11th time that Bencic has made the second week of a Grand Slam — but she has only progressed past the fourth round three times, all at the US Open. At Wimbledon, she was denied at that stage by Victoria Azarenka in 2015, Angelique Kerber in 2018 and Iga Swiatek in 2023. The Swiss player will bid to overcome that hurdle against either No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova or Zeynep Sonmez.
More to come…