Coco Gauff booked her place in the Miami Open quarter-finals for the first time in her career after she defeated Sorana Cirstea in three sets on Monday. 

Gauff emerged a 6-4 3-6 6-2 victor in just over two hours in Florida, and will face either Belinda Bencic or compatriot Amanda Anisimova for a place in the final four. 

The tone for the match was set early on as both players struggled on serve, with four consecutive breaks coming in the first set before Cirstea eventually held. 

But Gauff once again got the better of her opponents serve to take the opening set, but the theme of the clash continued into the second, only this time it was in Cirstea's favour.

The Romanian reeled off the final five games to take the encounter to a decider, but Gauff's experience eventually told as she finally found her groove with the ball in hand. 

Gauff raced into a 3-0 lead before play was halted after a spectator fell ill, but that pause did not affect the fourth seed, who won eight of the nine points in her final two service games to fend Cirstea off and reach the next round. 

Into the last

It's a 23rd career WTA 1000 quarterfinal for @CocoGauff, as she defeats Cirstea 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Fl2Wm3xs10

— wta (@WTA) March 23, 2026

Elsewhere, Victoria Mboko came out on top in an eagerly-anticipated clash with eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, with the Canadian winning 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-0 earlier in the day. 

Mboko became the first player to claim a deciding set with a 6-0 scoreline at the Miami Open against a top-10 since Serena Williams in the 2013 final against Maria Sharapova.

The 19-year-old faces another stern test in her quarter-final against Karolina Muchova, who cruised to an impressive 6-0 6-2 triumph over Alexandra Eala in the last 16. 

Data Debrief: Perfect 10 for Gauff

Gauff is looking to become the second American woman after Danielle Collins in 2024 to win the Miami Open since it changed to a WTA 1000 tournament five years ago, and though she faltered on serve again, she delivered when it mattered most. 

The 22-year-old is now the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals in all 10 current WTA-1000 events.

She has also reached the outright second-most Tier I / WTA-1000 quarter-finals before turning 23 since the format's introduction in 1990, surpassing Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.