World No. 3 Coco Gauff of the United States moved into the BNP Paribas Open Round of 16 for the third straight year with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over No. 29 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece on Monday.

Gauff took 1 hour and 35 minutes to overcome Sakkari, who is one of the strongest Indian Wells players of recent years. Sakkari is a two-time finalist at the BNP Paribas Open, including last year, where she beat Gauff in the semifinals.

"It was a bit tricky conditions," Gauff said in her post-match press conference. "I think we were both struggling a little bit with finding the rhythm, and I was just trying to stay solid on my end of the court."

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Another quality foe awaits: The 2023 US Open champion Gauff, who turns 21 years old later this week, will meet resurgent new mom Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16. Bencic ousted No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.

Bencic, the former World No. 4 and 2021 Olympic gold medalist, has had a stellar return from maternity leave so far this year, already picking up a title in Abu Dhabi. However, Gauff is 2-1 against Bencic, including a win this year in the Australian Open Round of 16.

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Gauff getting back on track: Monday's result marked a much-needed win for Gauff over a former Top 3 player. Gauff is still seeking her first singles semifinal of the year (excluding the United Cup team event).

After starting the year 9-0 (including leading the United States to the United Cup title and making the Australian Open quarterfinals), Gauff went 0-2 in February's Middle East swing, then barely got past 52nd-ranked Moyuka Uchijima in her Indian Wells opener.

"It's tennis, it's ups and downs," Gauff said. "Sometimes you lose matches that you probably could have won, and you win matches that you definitely shouldn't have won. At the end of the day, you'll hopefully win more of those matches than lose."

Moreover, Sakkari has been one of Gauff's most challenging opponents on tour. Despite the victory for Gauff this time around, Sakkari has still won five of their nine career meetings, including in the semifinals here last year.

But Gauff steeled herself during the tail end of a close first set on Monday. The first four games of the encounter went against serve, but Gauff had the first real chance, holding a set point on the Sakkari serve at 5-4. Sakkari, though, erased that opportunity and the pair moved into a decisive tiebreak.

Both players came into today with 2-0 tiebreak records in 2025 -- in fact, Gauff needed one to finish off her opening win this week over Uchijima. It was here where Gauff took charge against Sakkari, dominating the breaker to grit out the pivotal one-set advantage.

Gauff brought that momentum into the second set, but Sakkari stayed in the mix the whole way through. The Greek forced Gauff into an extremely nervy final game and the American had to stave off four break points during Sakkari's last push.

Gauff, who had 21 double faults against Uchijima, mostly kept those at bay on Monday -- that is, until she hit four when serving for the match. Nevertheless, she drew errors from Sakkari to keep the game going, then finally converted her sixth match point to seal the deal.

With the win, Gauff becomes the youngest American woman to make the Round of 16 at Indian Wells for three years in a row since Serena Williams (1999-2001).