World primary Aryna Sabalenka and quantity three Coco Gauff have each been knocked out within the second spherical of the Qatar Open.
Sabalenka was overwhelmed by Ekaterina Alexandrova on the WTA 1,000 occasion in Doha, whereas Gauff misplaced to Marta Kostyuk.
Russian Alexandrova, who beat Emma Raducanu within the first spherical, got here from a break down twice within the third set and held serve twice towards three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka.
The world quantity 26 then held her nerve within the third set tie-break to safe a 3-6 6-3 7-6 win.
The 30-year-old, who received a WTA Tour title in Austria final week, will play Belgium’s Elise Mertens within the final 16.
Ukrainian Kostyuk, the world quantity 21, fought again from 3-1 down within the second set to wrap up a 6-2 7-5 victory over Gauff in simply 73 minutes.
It’s a second successive defeat for Gauff, who obtained a bye within the first spherical and was taking part in for the primary time since she misplaced to Paula Badosa within the quarter-finals of the Australian Open final month.
The 2023 US Open champion was undone by seven double faults and 39 unforced errors whereas she managed simply eight winners.
Gauff had received her final 17 matches towards opponents ranked exterior the highest 20 earlier than going through Kostyuk.
The 22-year-old will now face the winner of an all-Polish tie between Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech.
Elsewhere, former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina claimed a 6-2 6-4 win towards American Peyton Stearns, whereas Jasmine Paolini – final 12 months’s Wimbledon and French Open runner-up – defeated Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-4.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur arrange a gathering with former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin after beating world quantity eight Qinwen Zheng of China 6-4 6-2.
It was the Tunisian’s first win towards a top-10 opponent since final 12 months’s Madrid Open after scuffling with harm.
Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova fought again from a set all the way down to beat twelfth seed Mirra Andreeva 3-6 6-3 7-5, whereas American sixth seed Jessica Pegula beat Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
Linda Noskova received 6-2 6-3 towards Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva to arrange a last-16 assembly with three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek.
