American tennis player Coco Gauff suffered an unexpected exit from the Qatar Open on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, 6-2. 7-5.
The former US Open champion Gauff squandered a considerable lead in the second set as Kostyuk triumphed with a score of 6-2, 7-5 and advanced to the third round, where she will face the winner of the match between Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.
“Coco is an incredible fighter,” Kostyuk said. “We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do.”
Gauff, who played for the first time since her quarter-final defeat to Paula Badosa at the Australian Open on January 21, committed seven double faults and made 39 unforced errors in a frustrating performance.
The American got off to a rough start, going down 4-1 after losing her serve twice. Kostyuk secured the first set in just half an hour after breaking Gauff’s serve again in the eighth game.
Gauff responded in the second set with a break that put her ahead 4-2 as she began to find her rhythm. However, Kostyuk fought back, capitalising on Gauff’s error-prone play, culminating in Gauff serving two double faults and being broken for the fifth time.
