Defending champion Coco Gauff fought back to beat Belinda Bencic 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in a tense encounter Tuesday and reach the China Open quarter-finals.

Gauff next plays either Eva Lys of Germany or fellow American McCartney Kessler in Beijing.

“It was a tough match,” Gauff said. “I had chances in the first to close it out but overall I’m happy with how I fought. She was being really aggressive.”

There were frustrations on both sides of the court at a largely empty stadium as the players switched between one half darkened by shade and the other in the blazing sun.

There was a flashpoint between the two players during a changeover in the second set when Switzerland’s 15th seed Bencic said: “Your team is chatting. I’m too old for these mind games, okay?”

“You’re the one playing the mi

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