Alex Eala exits Dubai tiff as Coco Gauff proves too hot to handle

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala and Coco Gauff may be friendly off the court, but on it, the American star showed the Filipina no mercy.

Eala found no answers for the power and brilliant shotmaking of the two-time Grand Slam champion as Gauff marched on to the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a lopsided 6-0, 6-2 win on Thursday, February 19 (Friday, February 20, Manila time).

World No. 4 Gauff won 10 straight games from the get-go then stymied an Eala comeback to prevent the Filipina — her doubles partner in the 2025 Italian Open — from reaching the final four of a WTA 1000 tournament for the second time.

“I could have served a little bit better but I made it in when it mattered,” said Gauff, who committed eight double faults. “Alex is a tough competitor, and even when I was up, I knew that she could come back at any given moment. I’ve seen her do it before.” 

While Eala has had success against major winners as she stunned the likes of Poland’s Iga Swiatek, USA’s Madison Keys, and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko en route to advancing to her first WTA 1000 semifinals in the Miami Open last year, Gauff proved to be a different beast.

A French Open and US Open titlist, Gauff dealt Eala her first bagel of 2026 then won the first four games of the second set on the way to the swift victory that took just 1 hour and 7 minutes to finish.

Eala avoided her first shutout loss in four years, or since she suffered a 0-6, 0-6 defeat to Hungary’s Anna Bondar in the qualifiers of the 2022 Madrid Open, as she held serve then broke Gauff to cut her deficit to 2-4. However, that only delayed what seemed like the inevitable.

Just when the throng of Filipino fans finally found a reason to cheer, Gauff quickly silenced them and wrapped up the match by winning the next two games, with Eala sealing her exit with an errant forehand that marked her 33rd unforced error.

It was simply that kind of horror night for Eala, who was left shaking her head in frustration and briefly consulting coach Joan Bosch at several points of the match as her errors piled up. 

Gauff used the crowd to her advantage to reach a WTA 1000 semifinals for the 13th time — her second in Dubai.

“I had a similar match at French Open last year so I brought that mindset today of just trying to, whenever you guys are cheering for Alex, I was pretending that it was my name. I think that it helped me a lot,” said Gauff. 

“If you can’t beat them, you got to join them.” 

Gauff will face the winner between Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic to get a shot at the title.  

The loss ended a promising run by Eala, who barged into the quarterfinals by shocking world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the round of 32 and turning back world No. 32 Solana Cirstea of Romania in the round of 16. – Rappler.com