Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur suffer second round exits at Qatar Open in Doha but Naomi Osaka triumphs

ByOli Gent

Updated 13/02/2024 at 21:15 GMT

Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur both suffered shock defeats in the second round of the Qatar Open, as the second and fourth seeds both crashed out early in Doha. Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, lost 6-2 6-4 to Katerina Siniakova, while Jabeur was dismantled 6-3 6-2 by Lesia Tsurenko, to continue the Tunisian's poor start to the season after a second round loss at the Australian Open.

Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur both crashed out of the Qatar Open on Tuesday, suffering shock defeats to Katerina Siniakova and Lesia Tsurenko respectively.

Gauff, the second seed in Doha, was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Siniakova, who came back from 4-0 down in the second set to seal victory over the reigning US Open champion in one hour and 20 minutes.

Siniakova, the world No. 42, earned just her second win in seven meetings with the 19-year-old American, who was making her first appearance since the Australian Open, .

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Siniakova is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion, and claimed one of the biggest victories of her career.

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She will play the American Danielle Collins in the next round, who beat Marie Bouzkova in the last round.

Jabeur was felled 6-3 6-2 by Tsurenko, as the Tunisian’s poor start to the year continued.

Jabeur, the fourth seed, , and was then defeated in the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open by Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets, after she had beaten Britain’s Emma Raducanu 6-4 6-1 in the last 16.

Jabeur’s meeting with Tsurenko was only their third to date, and the Ukrainian snuck ahead after Jabeur had beaten her in their last encounter in the round of 32 in Charleston last year.

Tsurenko beat Jabeur in their first match back in 2018, in the second round of qualifying in Dubai.

Jabeur suffers big shock as Andreeva records stunning win - Australian Open highlights

Tsurenko really capitalised on Jabeur’s second serve throughout the match, winning 69% of her return points on the world No. 6’s second attempts, and she was more clinical with her break points, taking four of 13, while Jabeur could only convert one of five.

The Ukrainian finished the match with a crushing forehand winner on top of the net to seal her first top 10 victory in five years, and she will face Naomi Osaka, who overcame Petra Martic 6-3 7-6(9) in the last 16.

It was much smoother sailing for Elena Rybakina, however, as the third seed won her fifth straight match by beating Zhu Lin 6-2 6-1.

The Kazakh hit 20 winners and did not face a single break point throughout the match, and she will play Elena Navarro, the 16th seed, in the last 16.

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