Kostyuk rolls past Gauff in a statement gain in Doha

On the way into his second round match against Marta Kostyuk, Coco Gauff had won 17 just against opponents ranked outside the top 20.

But Kostyuk for a number of reasons is not a classic top 20 outsider. She was a junior major master – at the age of 14 – and has steadily increased through the ranks. She saw her location floating as high as No. 16 last year and finished at No. 18.

Like Gauff, the 22-year-old from Ukraine, a two-time finalist last year, has created all kinds of expectations.

On Tuesday, all these options were exhibited when Kostyuk stunned No. 3-seeded Gauff with a 6-2, 7-5 win at Qatar TotalEnervies Open. She faces the winner of the later match between Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.

When he earned to reach another set of tiebreak, Gauff, 20, back-to-back hit double fault, her sixth and seventh of the match, to give Kostyuk to match points. She converted the second when Gauff’s backhand found the network.

Kostyuk had lost all three previous matches to Gauff on tough courts.

“Coco is an incredible fighter,” Kostyuk said in his on-Court interview. “We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do. I am very glad it worked in two sets. “

Gauff ended with 39 unforeseen errors – and only eight winners – lost in Doha for the third straight time.