Coco Gauff mourns U.S. TikTok ban after Australian Open comeback over Belinda Bencic

Coco Gauff poured one out for her favorite social media site after advancing into the quarterfinals of the 2025 Australian Open on Sunday, mourning the United States’ TikTok ban in the aftermath of a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win over Belinda Bencic.

The No. 3 seed, who has over 750,000 followers on the platform, wrote “RIP TikTok” with a broken heart on the camera lens, but otherwise had no complaints in the wake of her return to the last eight in Melbourne after two hours and 26 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

“I thought in the first set she played great tennis and it was tough for me to be on the offense,” she said on court after the match. “I just played more aggressively in the second set and also the third set. But overall, I’m happy with how I played; the first set easily could have went my way with a few more points, but that’s tennis. I just tried my best to reset for the third.”

Gauff improved to 9-0 to start the season, becoming is now the fifth woman to enjoy three seasons with an equally bright start, joining Stefanie Graf, Monica Seles, Serena Williams and Margaret Court.

“I saw something on Instagram about that, but it’s pretty crazy to be amongst the same stat line as legends,” Gauff told Jelena Dokic, who cited the viral stat. “I’m very grateful, and we worked hard in the off-season. Obviously, there’s still a lot to go for me to accomplish my goals, but I can say that I’m proud of myself, happy with how I performed.”

Gauff ended the 2024 season with a win at the WTA Finals, and was yet to drop a set in 2025 before Bencic, a former world No. 4 who was playing her first major tournament since giving birth to her first child, threatened to cause the upset of the tournament.

“It’s funny because, not too long ago or maybe a couple years ago, I had a really bad stat line where, if I lost the first set, I would lose the match,” Gauff said. “It was really bad, and I remember my dad said, ‘You’ve got to get some fight in you!’ So, every time I lose a first set, I think about that and try to dig even deeper.”

Playing in sweltering conditions, Gauff soon turned the match around and never looked in danger after leveling the match at one set apiece, breaking Bencic twice to serve out the match in under two and a half hours.

Up next for the American is Paula Badosa, a former world No. 2 who won the WTA’s 2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award after conquering a back injury to return to the world’s Top 20. Badosa was first into the quarterfinals, her first in Australia, when she flipped a 2-5 second-set deficit against Olga Danilovic, and will look to flip an even more daunting deficit against Gauff, having lost both of their 2024 encounters.

Gauff will nonetheless be on guard for her Spanish rival, who won the first set of both of their matches in Rome and Beijing.

“Every time I play Paula, it’s a tough match. She’s playing some great tennis and last time we played it went three sets at the end of last year. I’m expecting a tough match.”

The 20-year-old headed then headed off court, presumably to catch up on TikTok, which is likely still working on her phone while she remains Down Under.