DOHA: Top seed Aryna Sabalenka and third seed Coco Gauff were upset in the second round of the Qatar Open in Doha on Tuesday.
Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova came from behind to stun Sabalenka 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), while Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine capitalized on 39 unforced errors to oust Gauff 6-2, 7-5.
Sabalenka and Alexandrova have developed a bit of a rivalry, with Belarus’ Sabalenka entering the match having won just four of their seven meetings.
The two swapped efficient sets to even the match before Sabalenka started to take charge in the third, twice putting Alexandrova down a break. But the Russian fought back from 4-2, breaking Sabalenka to get back on serve and take the match to a tiebreaker.
Sabalenka, who won points on only 58 percent of her first serves, dropped each of her six serve chances in the tiebreaker.
As for the unseeded Kostyuk, she won 58 percent of the total points in her match, broke Gauff’s serve four times and benefited from seven double faults from the former US Open champion.
Gauff had a chance to send the second set into a tiebreak as she served down 6-5. But two consecutive double faults gave Kostyuk two match points, the second of which she converted for the win.
Gauff, who hit just eight winners on Tuesday, had a first-round bye and now has lost three consecutive matches in Doha. She lost to Katerina Siniakova in her opening match last year and in the quarterfinals in 2023.
Another American, sixth seed Jessica Pegula, fared better in her match with a Ukrainian, defeating Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy defeated France’s Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-4, and fifth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan topped Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-4 to move to the Round of 16 but other seeds had a rough time in early play Tuesday.
Ons Jabeur of Tunisia dropped seventh seed Qinwen Zheng of China 6-4, 6-2, breaking Zheng’s serve six times and winning 70 percent of her own first-serve points.
Ninth seed Paula Badosa of Spain lost a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Amanda Anisimova. The 12th seed, Russian Mirra Andreeva, was eliminated by Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia won a close one against 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, who hurt herself with 10 double faults in the 7-6 (5), 7-5 loss.
Other winners Tuesday included Belgium’s Elise Mertens, Czech Linda Noskova, Russia’s Daria Kasatkina and former Grand Slam winner Sofia Kenin.
Magda Linette needed nearly three hours to defeat her Polish countrywoman, Magdalena Frech, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2025
