Gauff, ‘fueled’ by argument, advances in Dubai

Coco Gauff reaches Dubai quarterfinals after arguing with umpireAssociated Press

Feb 21, 2024, 05:12 PM ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Coco Gauff rallied from a slow start and a second-set argument with the chair umpire to beat Karolina Pliskova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Gauff ended Pliskova’s 11-match winning streak.

The 19-year-old American built a 4-2 lead in the second set before a lengthy back-and-forth with chair umpire Pierre Bacchi. Gauff complained to Bacchi that he called her serve at deuce out only after Pliskova returned it into the net.

Gauff had to repeat her first serve and went on to hold for a 5-2 lead.

The US Open champion said the argument “fueled” her.

“It’s OK. It’s just one point. That happens in tennis. Players make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “It kind of went upward from there for me.”

Gauff will next face Anna Kalinskaya after the Russian beat ninth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-5.

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek advanced to the last eight by beating two-time Dubai champion Elina Svitolina 6-1, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina had a tougher time reaching the quarterfinals. She outlasted Magdalena Frech 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4.

Swiatek will next play sixth-seeded Qinwen Zheng, who eliminated Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-2. Rybakina has a quarterfinal match against Jasmine Paolini. The Italian defeated eighth-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-2.

The other quarterfinal match is seventh-seeded Marketa Vondrousova against Sorana Cirstea.