Aryna Sabalenka, the world number one, suffered a stunning second-round exit at the Qatar Open, falling to Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a gripping match that lasted over two and a half hours.
This marked Sabalenka’s first match since her Australian Open final defeat to Madison Keys in January. Alexandrova, coming off a WTA title win in Linz, showed her resilience by bouncing back from a set down.
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The match even saw an unexpected interruption when a stray cat briefly wandered onto the court during the second set.
Despite the distraction, Alexandrova kept her composure to force a tie-break in the decider, edging out Sabalenka to book a last-16 clash with Elise Mertens.
Also dumped out was Coco Gauff who lost in straight sets to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
Former US Open champion Gauff blew a healthy advantage in the second set as Kostyuk sealed a 6-2, 7-5 victory and a third-round meeting with Poland’s Magda Linette.
“Coco is an incredible fighter,” Kostyuk said. “We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do.”
Gauff, playing for the first time since a quarter-final loss to Paula Badosa at the Australian Open, served seven double-faults and made 39 unforced errors in an erratic display.
The American made a terrible start, slipping 4-1 behind after dropping her serve twice.
Gauff was broken again in the eighth game as Kostyuk secured the first set in just half an hour.
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