Coco Gauff exited the BNP Paribas Open sooner than she would have liked but she has something to look forward to Thursday — her birthday. And perhaps it’s a birthday of added significance, since Gauff turns 21.

“I don't know if I'm going to feel any different but, yeah, I think it's an exciting age to turn,” Gauff said. “Usually I don't really care, I guess, when my birthday is, but I am excited. “Obviously I would have loved to be out here tomorrow. But I'm going to try to either get home tonight or tomorrow just to celebrate with my family.”

Belinda Bencic beat the 2023 US Open winner 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round, turning the tables on the Floridian after their duel at the Australian Open in the same round. Back then it was Gauff who overturned a set deficit against the Swiss to make the quarterfinals.

Bencic stepped on the gas in the last two sets at Stadium 1, something Gauff noted. The Olympic champion of 2021 often controlled proceedings with her stellar two-handed backhand yet also powered her forehands cross court to try to break down the Gauff forehand.

Bencic — back on tour after giving birth to daughter Bella last year — applied the knockout blow by breaking at 4-4 in the final set after Gauff led 40-0. “I think today the difference was she's a bit more aggressive than I was,” said Gauff. “In those moments in Australia, I stepped up my game to be more aggressive the last two sets. She kind of did that to me. I felt like I let her dictate a lot from the backhand corner. I think that's something that I don't want to happen, especially I feel like that's the corner I should be more so dictating.

Gauff struck eight double faults, her lowest tally this tournament. She’s making tweaks to her service motion and knows it’ll take a while to be fully at home with the adjustments. “I still think I could have served better,” said Gauff. “Was obviously more consistent, but definitely want to get more aggressive with it. It was kind of one of those things where I started the tournament not serving well, so it's more so just trying to get it in. I hit some good serves today, but I feel like especially in that last game, up 40-Love, I probably could have went bigger in those moments. But yeah...it is an improvement, and hopefully can continue to do better from here.”

Gauff fell to 2-4 in her last six matches yet didn’t seem overly fazed. She is wise above her years and knows there’s still most of the season to come. “It's not as bad as it seems, I guess,” said Gauff. “Start of the year, I did well at United Cup and lost to Paula (Badosa) fourth round in Australia. Middle East wasn't a great swing for me. Here, I lost 6-4 in the third in the fourth round against a tough opponent who's coming off a 500 win,” she added, referring to Bencic landing the title in Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously I wanted to do better, want to have better results, but it's not something I can crush myself on. “I'm trying to do better, and that's all I can do. I'm trying to work on things in practice, and unfortunately right now it's not translating how I'd like to.”