Third seed Gauff upended by qualifier Kalinskaya in Dubai

Coco Gauff suffered her second surprise early exit in two weeks after she was beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 by Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open on Thursday.

Third seed Gauff looked on course for a comfortable evening when she eased through the first set bu Kalinskaya, ranked No 40, hit back to set up a semi-final against world No 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland.

 “It was a difficult match,” Kalinskaya was quoted by the WTA website. “I started a little bit not so confident. I was getting used to the surface. I didn’t get the chance to play on centre court. I felt the speed of the bounce was a bit different. I couldn’t find my timing.

“In the second set, I actually calmed down a little bit more and I played point by point till the end of the match. I could feel the tension, like I said on court, till the last point. She kept bringing so many balls back, so I had to stay really patient and decide which ball to go and finish the point.”

Gauff was beaten in her first match in Doha last week, having begun the year well by reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open.

Kalinskaya, who has reached just one WTA Tour final, last year, beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter (6-1, 6-2), Spanish lucky loser Cristina Bucsa (6-3, 6-4) and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 9 seed (6-4, 7-5) earlier in the event.

Gauff, ranked No 3, won against Italian lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto (6-1, 7-5) and Karolina Pliskova (2-6, 6-4, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

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

• Iga Swiatek beat Qinwen Zheng (6): 6-3, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini w/o Elena Rybakina
• Sorana Cirstea beat Marketa Vondrousova (7): 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2