© Getty Images/Clive Brunskill
Coco Gauff, who entered the Qatar Open as the second-ranked player, experienced an unexpected defeat against Katerina Siniakova. After a bye in the first round, Gauff began participating in the tournament on Tuesday.
Against the world number 42. Siniakova entered Gauff as the clear favorite, but it was the Czech who came out on top, defeating the American 6-2, 6-4. For Gauff, third in the world rankings, it was the first match since her semi-final defeat at the Australian Open against Aryna Sabalenka.
It was also the first time that Gauff was eliminated so early in Doha – she reached the quarter-finals in 2022 and 2023.
How did Siniakova pull off the surprise?
Siniakova started the match promisingly and took serve from Gauff in the first game.
A few games later, Siniakova fended off a break point in the fourth game before breaking Gauff for the second time to take a 4-1 lead. Trailing by a double break, Gauff managed to get one of the breaks back in the sixth game, but then lost her love game again when Siniakova increased to 5-2.
When serving to win the set in the eighth game, Siniakova routinely secured the first set by converting her first set point. After giving up the first set easily, Gauff started the second set strong, scoring two breaks for a seemingly comfortable 4-0 lead.
Just when it looked like Gauff would easily win the second set and force a decider, her game unexpectedly collapsed, and Siniakova won the next six games to overcome a big deficit in the second set and escape with a two-set win.
This was the seventh meeting between the two and Gauff now leads 5-2 head-to-head against Siniakova. After the Australian Open, Gauff focused on improving her serve in practice, but her serving difficulties continued in Doha as the American suffered 14 break points and lost her serve eight times. Gauff is expected to return to action next week at a WTA 1000 event in Dubai.
2024-02-13 20:17:10
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