Marta Kostyuk upset Coco Gauff in the second round of the Qatar Open, beating the former US Open champion in straight sets. (More Sports News)
𒁏Kostyuk, who reached two Tour-level finals and climbed as high as number 16 in the WTA rankings last year, took advantage of an error-strewn Gauff display to win 6-2 7-5.
✨The Ukrainian started the match as she meant to go on with back-to-back breaks, composing herself on her own serve after initially gifting one of those breaks straight back to Gauff.
𓃲Kostyuk only needed 30 minutes to claim the opener, and though Gauff improved in the second set, she finished the match with 39 unforced errors to just eight winners.
𒁃Serving to force a second-set tie-break at 5-6, Gauff double-faulted twice – her sixth and seventh of the contest – to hand Kostyuk two match points, the second of which was converted.
𝔉"Coco is an incredible fighter," Kostyuk, who will face Magda Linette or Magdalena Frech next, said in her on-court interview. "We always have incredible matches.
𒉰"I tried to stick to what I had to do. I'm very happy it worked out in two sets."
Data Debrief: New high for Kostyuk
𒈔With Gauff ranked third in the world, this victory represents the best of Kostyuk's young career to date.
🐻Gauff had won 17 straight matches against players ranked outside the world's top 20, but 22-year-old Kostyuk – currently 21st – brought that run crashing to a halt.
