No. 3 seed Coco Gauff had to come from a break down in both sets to defeat an ailing Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 6-4 in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships second round.
Dubai: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Two years ago, Gauff had been on the receiving end of a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 upset by Kalinskaya in the Dubai quarterfinals — a result that put the latter on the path to her first WTA 1000 final. In their first meeting since, Gauff got her revenge, though not before struggling with her serve, the wind and her opponent going for broke while being physically hampered.
Kalinskaya led 2-0 in the first set and 3-1 in the second, but took a medical timeout for treatment on her left leg trailing 4-3 in the opener. The World No. 23, who reached the Doha quarterfinals last week, attempted to shorten points with hard, flat strikes from the baseline — a strategy that was only intermittently successful, as she racked up 45 unforced errors to only 11 winners.
Gauff, who was coming off an opening loss in Doha to Elisabetta Cocciaretto, committed 12 double faults among her own 33 unforced errors. But she also played several superb defensive points — a sliced backhand winner off a Kalinskaya volley was among the best shots of the match — and always threatened on return, with Kalinskaya winning just 46% of her first-serve points.
“It wasn’t the prettiest one, but it was enough for today,” Gauff acknowledged in her on-court interview. “It was pretty windy. I was just trying to adjust — both of us were struggling with consistency on the court.”
In her press conference, Gauff described the match as a “confidence boost” following her losses in Doha and the Australian Open quarterfinals to Elina Svitolina.
“Just trying to find form again, which is tough,” she said. “Obviously, Anna’s a tough opponent. She’s beaten some quality players, she beat me here a couple of years ago. I’m happy with how today went. Winning when you’re not playing your best is what I’m most proud of.”
Gauff will next face 2021 semifinalist Elise Mertens, who delivered a dominant 6-2, 6-2 rout of No. 14 seed Emma Navarro in 75 minutes. The two-time major champion leads the head-to-head with Mertens 4-0, including 2-0 on hard courts.
