Garcia overcomes shoulder injury to defeat Gauff in Miami

Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 23 seed, beat American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to reach the last eight of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Monday evening.

The win is Garcia’s first top 10 scalp since the WTA Finals in 2022, where she beat four top 10 players.

“It’s been a while for sure,” said Garcia after her victory over Gauff. “It’s been a complicated couple of months and the beginning of the year also. You keep working and trying to stay positive about what’s coming, that it’s gonna pay off. Sometimes it’s very hard.

“I’m lucky enough to have very good people behind me to help me and stay positive when I’m struggling. It means a lot to have this little reward and keep going in the tournament. It means a lot.”

Depending on how the draw plays out in Miami, Garcia will have more opportunity against the game’s best this week, with a potential semi-final match up against Iga Swiatek looming.

Shoulder injury hampers Garcia, but errors sink Gauff

After powering through the first set 6-3 against Gauff on Monday, it seemed as though Garcia was going to run away with the match.

That is, until a shoulder injury – one she’d eluded to in her post-match comments after defeating Naomi Osaka in the round of 32 – began to flare up. The Frenchwoman complained to her box of pain when she served, and was weak on return as well. This ultimately saw her drop the second set, winning just one game as Gauff leveled the match 1-1.

Just when it seemed as though the American had the upper hand, Garcia took a medical timeout and received treatment from the physio on her shoulder. The opening game was a tough one, with Garcia saving four break points and barely limping through to a 1-0 lead.

It would be an entirely different match from here on out though, with Garcia breaking Gauff to love in her next game. The No 3 seed was simply spraying far too many errors, and continued giving her opponent soft points as Garcia built what would prove to be an unassailable 3-0 lead. Gauff showed some flare and threatened to fight back late in the third, but her myriad of errors and the Frenchwoman’s confident hitting were too much.

Garcia now makes her first-ever quarter-finals in Miami, having now won three-in-a-row against Gauff. She’ll face the winner of the match between Romanian Sorana Cirstea, the No 19 seed, and American Danielle Collins next.

Ahead of her victory, the Frenchwoman benefited from the abandonment of Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-1, 5-2) and won against Japanese Naomi Osaka (7-6 (4), 7-5).

Gauff, ranked No 3, won against Argentinian qualifier Nadia Podoroska (6-1, 6-2) and French lucky loser Oceane Dodin (6-4, 6-0) in the previous rounds of the Miami tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other last 16 results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.770.480, most recent results first):

• Iga Swiatek vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Emma Navarro vs. Jessica Pegula
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Danielle Collins: monday
• Victoria Azarenka (27) beat Katie Boulter (24): 7-5, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Madison Keys (17): 6-3, 7-5
• Yulia Putintseva beat Anhelina Kalinina (32): 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Maria Sakkari vs. Anna Kalinskaya