Belinda Bencic sends Coco Gauff crashing out of Indian Wells

Gauff's serving issues continue to undermine her effort and it was a huge factor in her unexpected defeat. Double faults have been a theme for Gauff during her stuttering run in Indian Wells and she served up another eight in the match against Bencic.

The more concerning statistic was the 33 per-cent of points she won on her second serve, with that number never likely to be enough to win matches at the highest level.

Gauff spoke about her serving issues after the match against Bencic and she admitted it is still a work in progress.

We kind of changed a lot of things with the serve. I don't want to get into specifics of it, but I went on the practice court after the first day and then after the other day," said Gauff.

"I still think I could have served better. Was obviously more consistent, but definitely want to get more aggressive with it. It was kind of one of those things where I started the tournament not serving well, so it's more about just trying to get it in.

"I had a lot of opportunities, especially in the last two games, but she's a tough opponent. She's coming off playing some great tennis. Yeah, hopefully I can do better next time."

Gauff's serving problems rose to the surface in this latest defeat as she served at 4-4 in the third set and despite holding a dominant position in that game, she started to lose her way and Bencic took her chance.

She then served out the match, as the player returning to tennis after giving birth to her first child continued her fairytale return to form.

After winning the WTA Tour title in Abiu Dhabi last month, Bencic is relishing the challenge of making her mark at the top of the women's game as she travels with her young child.

"I definitely didn't anticipate the comeback being so successful and so early, but of course I'm going to take it," said Bencic.

"I'm very happy about it, and I feel like obviously it was a lot of hard work, you know, to make the comeback.

"I feel like it helped me a lot to play some lower events last year late in the season, you know, to try to just start to play a little bit, see where my level is.

"Also, figure out everything, logistics, how I feel on the court. That gave us a little bit of a direction of what we can work on more before Australia. Then obviously very happy with the results right now.

"My 2025 goal for tennis is for sure to move up the rankings. I don't want to really name a number, but kind of, you know, to be back, you know, so I can enter tournaments myself.

"Outside of the court, the aim is just to stay healthy, to have health for my family, and yeah, to enjoy our time and to see our family growing."

Bencic's run to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells will see her break back into the top 50 of the WTA Rankings when they are updated.

The Swiss star set to rise into the top 32 and a potentially seeded position for Grand Slam tournaments if she goes all the way and lifts the title in Indian Wells.

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