Gauff dumped out of Qatar open by Kostyuk

Coco Gauff suffered a surprise early exit from the Qatar Open Tuesday with a straight defeat of Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, while Elena Rybakina lightened into the last 16.

Former US Open Champion Gauff blasted a healthy advantage in the second set as Kostyuk sealed a 6-2, 7-5 win and a third round meeting with the winner of an all-polish band between Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.

Gauff, who played for the first time since January 21, quarter-final loss to Paula Badosa at the Australian Open, earned seven double faults on an erratic screen.

The American started off a terrible start and slid 4-1 afterwards after dropping her earns twice.

Gauff was broken again in the eighth game when Kostyuk secured the first set in just half an hour.

The world number three hit back with a break on the way to a 4-2 lead in the second set as she began to find her rhythm.

But Kostyuk fought back and benefits from a miserable Gauff performance that ended when she served two double errors to be broken for the fifth time.

“The double errors made it easier for me … I’m very glad it ended up in two sets,” Kostyuk told Bein Sports.

Rybakina, who lost against the possible winner Belinda Bencic in the Abu Dhabi semi -final last week, saw Payton Stearns in his opening match.

The fifth seed drove to a 6-2, 6-4 victory despite a late wing to create a third round against either Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva or Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova.

Rybakina led 5-0 in the second set, but missed three match points to take it 6-0 and then fell briefly as Stearns pulled the set back on serving.

The former Wimbledon champion came too late over the line on his fifth match point.

Jasmine Paolini, last year’s French Open and Wimbledon Runner-Up, also started a winning start to her campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Caroline Garcia in the second round.

Czech young Linda Noskova won a final 16-up against three-time defense champion Iga Swatek with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

JC/IWD