Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff script shock exits from Qatar Open

It's not a good scene for the top WTA seeds in Doha right now, as World No.1 and World No.3 were stunned in the second round. The top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka extended her 2025 campaign to the Qatar Open after narrowly missing out on the Australian Open title to American Madison Keys. The Belarusian was stunned early in her campaign as she met the unseeded Ekaterina Alexandrova. A similar script unfolded in the match between third-seeded Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk. The Ukrainian cleaned up Gauff in straight sets of 6-2, 7-5 to deliver another notable upset in the WTA 1000 tournament on the same day.

Underdogs eat up top seeds in the Qatar Open second round

Aryna Sabalenka was handed a rather challenging draw as she opened her campaign in Doha. A champion in 2020, Sabalenka last played the WTA event in 2022, where she fell to Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. However, her opponent this time was the in-form Ekaterina Alexandrova, who had arrived in the Round of 32 after a 6-3, 7-5 victory against British seed Emma Raducanu. Flexing her dominance in Doha, where she has now delivered three upsets, the Russian ace held on to script a come-from-behind victory over the top seed.

After losing the first set 3-6, Alexandrova held serve twice and came back from a break down to take the next sets 6-3, 7-6. Alexandrova, who lost her Australian Open campaign to Raducanu in the first round, has now notched her fifth consecutive victory of the season. With this loss, Sabalenka now faces stiff competition from Iga Swiatek, who aims to reclaim the top WTA ranking. Swiatek faces Linda Noskova next in Doha after taking down Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 in their Round of 32 clash.

For Coco Gauff, the upset arrived at the hands of Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. The 22-year-old saw off Gauff in straight sets of 6-2, 7-5 to set up a Round of 16 clash against Magda Linette. Falling to her own shortcomings, Gauff notched consecutive double faults in Doha, gifting the Ukrainian crucial match points. The victory marked a momentous event for Kostyuk, who had earlier lost all three of her face-offs against the American on hard courts.

“Coco is an incredible fighter,” Kostyuk said following her impressive victory. “We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do. I’m very happy it worked out in two sets.”