COCO Gauff proved too good for Alex Eala on this night.
The American world No. 4 overpowered Eala, 6-0, 6-2, in their one-sided quarterfinal on Friday morning before a packed Center Court crowd at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships that cheered heartily for the Filipina underdog.
READ Coco Gauff braces for Eala's 'home crowd' in Dubai quarterfinal
Gauff, only a year older than the 20-year-old Eala but way ahead in terms of experience at this level, exposed the gap in their strategies as the Filipina struggled to keep pace throughout the match that took just an hour and seven minutes.
The loss ended Eala’s dream run in the WTA 1000 level tournament after a string of upsets that saw her topple world No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, No. 32 Sorana Cirstea, and No. 45 Hailey Baptiste made her the talk of the town.
But the world No. 47 struggled to keep up on this night as t e American’s intensity and defense made every rally a grind, forcing error after error even as an increasingly desperate Eala tried different looks to break through.
Next for Eala is another WTA 1000 direct entry in the 2026 Indian Wells, which runs from March 4 to 15.
At posting time, Eala has yet to be included in the player listings of WTA 500 Merida Open and WTA 250 ATX Open, the two tour-level tournaments before BNP Paribas.
Gauff was clinical from the start. storming to a 5-0 lead in just 20 minutes as Eala racked up 15 unforced errors in the opening set alone. Despite loud “Let’s go, Alex!” chants echoing around the stadium, the scoreboard kept tilting one way.
The second set offered little hope as well as Gauff raced to another 4-0 advantage before Eala could get on the board by winning two games.
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