Gauff sets Pliskova clash at Dubai

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, moved into the last 16 of the Dubai Open by defeating Italian lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 7-5 at The Aviation Club Tennis Centre on Tuesday evening.

A semi-finalist in 2023 at Dubai, Gauff improves to 6-3 lifetime at the event, and 11-2 on the season.

The 19-year-old is the only American to reach the third round in Dubai – she will face Karolina Pliskova next.

It was one-way traffic for the first set and a half, but Cocciaretto came to life from 3-0 down, breaking for 3-1 and again for 3-3.

Four more breaks of serve in succession left the pair even at 5-5. Gauff kept the streak alive, breaking for 6-5 and served out the match, converting her first match point to close the contest in one hour and 42 minutes.

Gauff has now won 50 of 51 matches against players ranked outside of the Top 50.

In the previous round of the Dubai tournament, Cocciaretto, ranked No 58, edged out Belgian Elise Mertens (1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3)).

Dubai WTA 1000, other second-round results (The Aviation Club Tennis Centre, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Karolina Pliskova beat Ashlyn Krueger (WC): 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Sloane Stephens: 6-4, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (6) beat Nao Hibino (Q): 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
• Elena Rybakina (4) beat Victoria Azarenka: 4-6, 6-2 ret.
• Jelena Ostapenko (9) beat Lulu Sun (WC): 6-4, 6-3
• Anastasia Potapova beat Lucia Bronzetti (LL): 6-0, 6-3
• Elina Svitolina (15) beat Tatjana Maria: 6-3, 6-3
• Sorana Cirstea beat Veronika Kudermetova (13): 6-1, 6-4
• Anna Kalinskaya (Q) beat Cristina Bucsa (LL): 6-3, 6-4
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Donna Vekic beat Aryna Sabalenka (2): 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0
• Magdalena Frech (Q) beat Petra Martic: 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
• Marketa Vondrousova (7) beat Peyton Stearns: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-3, 6-4
• Maria Sakkari (8) beat Emma Navarro: 6-2, 6-4

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