Belinda Bencic reaches first Wimbledon quarterfinal

Switzerland's Belinda Bencic advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory Monday in London against 18th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.

Bencic overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first-set tiebreak and was thwarted on her first five match points before prevailing in one hour and 57 minutes. Alexandrova, who crushed Bencic 6-1, 6-2 two weeks ago at Bad Homburg, converted only three of 11 break chances.

"For you guys it was entertaining, but for me it was the biggest stress," Bencic said in her on-court interview. "It was very difficult moment -- you're trying to serve it out but your body is not listening to what your mind is saying. Crazy stress in the end."

Bencic lost her previous fourth-round appearances at the grass-court Grand Slam in 2015, 2018 and 2023. This will be her fourth quarterfinal at a major and first since the 2021 U.S. Open.

"I always got stuck in the fourth round," said Bencic, 28. "So it was really important for me to break through to the quarterfinal ... it's really a dream come true."

Bencic will meet the winner of the match between No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 10 Emma Navarro.

No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia moved into the final eight with a 7-5, 7-5 victory against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

Samsonova overcame 3-1 and 5-4 deficits in the first set, fighting off two set points. She collected the only service break of the second set in the deciding game.

Samsonova's quarterfinal foe will be either No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland or No. 23 Clara Tauson of Denmark.