Alexandrova halts Sonmez's run; to meet Bencic in Wimbledon last 16

WIMBLEDON -- A first Wimbledon quarterfinal will be on the line in the ninth meeting between Ekaterina Alexandrova and Belinda Bencic after both battled through their third-round matches on a drizzly Saturday at Wimbledon.

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Alexandrova and Bencic to renew frequent rivalry: No. 18 seed Alexandrova came from 5-2 down in the second set to end the history-making run of Zeynep Sonmez, the first Turkish player to make a Grand Slam third round in the Open Era, advancing 6-3, 7-6(1) in 1 hour and 24 minutes.

Alexandrova advances to the last 16 of a major for the third time, following Wimbledon 2023 and Roland Garros 2025. She has yet to pass that stage and is currently the second-highest ranked player who has yet to reach a major quarterfinal.

Earlier, Belinda Bencic returned to the Wimbledon fourth round for the fourth time after coming from a break down in the third set to edge Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4, 3-6, 7-6[8] in 2 hours and 58 minutes. The World No. 35 also had to navigate multiple rain delays, including a lengthy off-court spell after the first set.

This marks the 11th time that Bencic has made the second week of a Grand Slam -- but she has only progressed past the fourth round three times, all at the US Open (in 2014, 2019 and 2021). At Wimbledon, she was denied at that stage by Victoria Azarenka in 2015, Angelique Kerber in 2018 and Iga Swiatek in 2023.

Alexandrova and Bencic are all square at four wins apiece in a rivalry dating back to 2019. Two of their three grass-court encounters resulted in the only two three-set matches that they have played, with Alexandrova coming out on top at Eastbourne 2019 and Bencic edging a third-set tiebreak in the 2021 Berlin quarterfinals.

But their most recent grass-court encounter might be the most significant. In Bencic's first match back from an arm injury that caused her to miss Roland Garros, Alexandrova raced to a 6-1, 6-2 victory in the first round of Bad Homburg. The key question for Monday's rematch will be how much Bencic has improved in the two weeks since.

Alexandrova survives valiant test from Sonmez: News of Sonmez's trailblazing run this week has spread quickly among London's Turkish diaspora, and a sea of Turkish flags greeted her as she walked out on to Court 12. Full-throated chants greeted every point she won as the crowd embraced their country's latest sporting heroine.

For most of the contest, Sonmez gave them much to cheer about. Initially overpowered by Alexandrova, consecutive double faults trailing 3-2 put the first set out of reach. But Sonmez's grit at its close -- Alexandrova required five set points to seal it -- foreshadowed excellent play from the 23-year-old in the second set. Volleying and redirecting pace with panache, she advanced to the brink of forcing a decider.

But Alexandrova had the edge in power from the start, firing 22 winners to Sonmez's 13. When Sonmez's backhand let her down as she served for the second set, Alexandrova reined in her own unforced errors and clawed her way back in.

The 30-year-old broke Sonmez again with an excellent forehand pass for 6-5, only for the World No. 88 to respond with a brilliant forehand winner to force a tiebreak. But that was Sonmez's last note of resistance, as Alexandrova sailed through seven of the last eight points of the match.

The Turkish fans were far from disappointed, though. Recognizing the quality of Sonmez's play and the significance of her week, they stood to salute her with another round of chanting as she departed the court.

Bencic triumphs in battle of doppelgangers: Bencic's victory was the second-longest match of this year's Championships so far, behind only Aliaksandra Sasnovich's 3-hour, 24-minute 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6[8] first-round win over Varvara Gracheva. The 28-year-old has now reached the last 16 of both of her Grand Slam events since returning from maternity leave, having also made that stage of the Australian Open. She was forced to miss Roland Garros due to an arm injury, only returning to action in Bad Homburg last week.

As Bencic and Cocciaretto went toe-to-toe for neatly three hours, the similarity between their styles was remarkable. Both players sought to take the ball as early as possible, keep each other guessing with well-disguised redirections of pace and strike with flat, aggressive intent at all times.

Cocciaretto found more outright winners -- 47 to Bencic's 29 -- but also more unforced errors, 45 to 28. The first two sets were decided by just one break in each, both captured with impressive offensive play by the returner -- and the Italian put herself in the driving seat when she captured the Bencic serve again at the start of the decider, hammering a backhand to convert break point.

But Bencic fought her way back into the match as Cocciaretto's error count began to creep up, breaking back for 4-4 and saving another break point in the subsequent game.

Cheered on by partner Martin Hromkovic and one-year-old daughter Bella from the media balcony above Court 18, the former World No. 4 then played a superb tiebreak, ending four of the best points of the match with clean winners -- including an exquisite drop shot -- in it.