'Remember who you are': How Gauff escaped a third-set tiebreak at Wimbledon

Solana Sierra had already faced Coco Gauff twice in 2026 before their second-round meeting at Wimbledon, and each encounter had been more competitive than the last. The Argentine won just two games in their first meeting at the United Cup in January before pushing Gauff to the limit in Rome, where she led 3-0 in the deciding set before the American rallied to win six of the final seven games.

On Wednesday, Sierra pushed Gauff even further.

The World No. 7 trailed 5-3 in the deciding set and faced a 7-4 deficit in the match tiebreak before reeling off six straight points to escape with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) victory in 2 hours and 8 minutes.

The comeback was the latest example of Gauff's resilience on the biggest stages. Although she fell to Anastasia Potapova in three sets at Roland Garros last month, Gauff improved to 22-7 in three-set matches at Grand Slams for her career.

A "happy and proud" Gauff credited Sierra -- who nearly doubled Gauff's groundstroke winner total -- for her level of play when she addressed the crowd after the match. But she said that the mental toughness honed through repeatedly coming through such situations previously is what carried her through.

“I was just reminding myself, and my coach always tells me, ‘Remember who you are,'" the two-time Grand Slam champion said. 

She later shed further light on her mentality in her post-match press conference.

"I think sometimes I feel like I have a bit like impostor syndrome," she said. "I've talked about this before. Maybe having my success, but sometimes forgetting about it, or maybe thinking I almost don't deserve it a little bit. I don't know, just reminding myself of the career that I've had so far at 22 is definitely up there with a lot of people. Obviously I have so much ambition to do even more.

"I think I just have to remind myself that, yes, the girl I'm playing is tough. Regardless of who it is, it's tough. But I also have to remember that they're probably thinking the same thing about me."

Gauff said she never let the score dictate her mindset, drawing confidence from her recent comeback attempts on the Grand Slam stage.

"I'm just trying to take it one point at a time," she said. "Honestly, Roland Garros I was two points away from winning at one point, so ... I was just thinking, 'OK, I can definitely turn this around.'"

Gauff felt she was creating enough opportunities throughout the final set despite not capitalizing immediately. Once she finally earned the break back, she said she was able to relax and focus on trimming Sierra's lead point by point.

"A tiebreaker is always nerve-wracking," Gauff said. "I was trying to chop and chop and make the lead not as big of a gap. That was the focus."

A critical moment came when the tiebreak score was event at 7-7. She turned around a rally that Sierra had control off with a one-handed backhand passing shot winner -- a wing-and-a-prayer-type shot that Gauff confessed she couldn't repeat if she tried, even if she recalled hitting a similar one in practice. 

"Probably not always good to hit a dropshot there," she said. "I don't know, at that point, I thought I have to commit and trust myself.

"She hit a good shot back. ... I didn't really think, honestly. It was just one of those things that you play doubles, you work on reactions for moments like that. It's not necessarily something you think about, honestly. My thought was just to get the ball over the net."

For a spot in the Round of 16, Gauff will face fellow American Claire Liu -- another matchup she historically enjoys. Though they have not played since 2024, Gauff is 2-0 against her countrywoman and hasn't lost a set.

"She's a great player. I think grass is one of her favorite surfaces. The next match will definitely be tough," Gauff said of the former junior Wimbledon champion, who is currently ranked No. 146 and has won five matches thus far after coming through qualifying.

"I feel like anytime you're playing a qualifier, it's always tough because they have three matches already. She won two matches here, so she has a lot more momentum maybe than I have right now. But I don't know, I feel confident. I feel like today was definitely a big test. Hopefully, you know, on, I don't know what day it is, but two days from now I can play good tennis against her."