Coco Gauff beats Belinda Bencic and Wimbledon curfew to reach quarterfinals for first time

THE ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — Coco Gauff beat Belinda Bencic — and the strict 11 p.m. Wimbledon curfew — to reach a first quarterfinal at the All England Club Sunday night.

With an unreturned serve on the final point of a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win, Gauff tapped her wrist as if she wore a watch, serving out the victory just two minutes before the deadline.

The curfew was introduced in 2009, when the All England Club installed a retractable roof on Centre Court. That meant that play could go on later, but local residents — and their council — did not want fans streaming past their houses in the early hours.

“The 11pm curfew is a planning condition applied to balance the consideration of the local residents with the scale of an international tennis event that takes place in a residential area,” Merton Council said.

“The challenge of transport connectivity and getting visitors home safely is also a key consideration.”

At 11 p.m., play stops. Just once in recent history has the tournament made an exception, when Andy Murray beat Marcos Baghdatis in four sets at 11:02 p.m in 2012. The clock had struck 11 with Murray up 5-1 in the fourth set and about to serve for the match. “Common sense,” tournament organizers said at the time, was the driver behind a two-minute extension on one of the strictest rules in sports.

Gauff was not about to let it get in her way.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Top Sports News, Women’s Tennis

2026 The Athletic Media Company