Coco Gauff suffered a surprise second-round exit from the WTA 1000 event in Doha on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to Italian lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto.<\/p>\n
The fourth seed, who was beaten 6-4, 6-2<\/a>, was followed out of the Qatar Open by sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini<\/a> and eighth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova<\/a>.<\/p>\n There were no such problems for Iga Swiatek<\/a> or Elena Rybakina<\/a>, though, as the top seed and newly-crowned Australian Open champion both cruised into the last 16.<\/p>\n American Gauff<\/a>, who received a first-round bye, was also knocked out of the tournament in her opening match last year.<\/p>\n Cocciaretto<\/a> will face Ann Li<\/a> in the next round after only the third victory of her career against a top-10-ranked opponent.<\/p>\n The world number 57 said she was inspired by her friend and skier Sofia Goggia, who took bronze in the women’s downhill event at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics at the weekend.<\/p>\n “We always send messages and FaceTime to talk about our sports and how you manage some things,” she said of Goggia. “She gives me a lot of advice…<\/p>\n “I love how they (skiers) approach the sport. They have fear of nothing. They’re focused a lot, and they put themselves after everything.”<\/p>\n Former world number three Maria Sakkari<\/a> saw off Paolini, also 6-4, 6-2<\/a>, to set up a last-16 tie with Varvara Gracheva<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko<\/a> was another 6-4, 6-2<\/a> winner over Alexandrova.<\/p>\n Swiatek and Rybakina cruise through<\/p>\n Swiatek dropped just eight points in the first set as she brushed aside Indonesia’s Janice Tjen<\/a> 6-0, 6-3<\/a> in her first match since losing in the Australian Open last eight to Rybakina.<\/p>\n The six-time Grand Slam winner will play Daria Kasatkina<\/a> for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n She has won her last six meetings with the Russian-born Australian without dropping a set.<\/p>\n “She can come to the match feeling that she has nothing to lose,” said Swiatek of facing Kasatkina.<\/p>\n “There are different ways the match can go, and I wouldn’t say that focusing on the last results gives a lot. I’d rather stay ready for the challenge and not really think about the previous ones.”<\/p>\n Rybakina continued her fine form with a 6-2, 6-4<\/a> success against Wang Xinyu<\/a> and will next face another Chinese player in Zheng Qinwen<\/a>.<\/p>\n World number three Rybakina has not played Zheng since a group-stage loss at the 2024 WTA Finals.<\/p>\n Australian Open semi-finalist Elina Svitolina<\/a> and rising Canadian star Victoria Mboko<\/a> also reached the third round.<\/p>\n