{"id":436029,"date":"2026-02-20T11:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436029\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:49:21","slug":"coco-gauff-issues-alex-eala-apology-and-makes-feelings-crystal-clear-on-dubai-rival-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/436029\/","title":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff issues Alex Eala apology and makes feelings crystal clear on Dubai rival | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coco Gauff<\/a> apologised to the fans in Dubai after reaching the quarter-finals on Wednesday \u2013 only to set up a showdown with their favourite player, Alexandra Eala. The world No. 4 battled back and saved three match points to beat Elise Mertens in a two-hour and 18-minute contest, and then told the crowd that she knew they were waiting to watch Eala, who featured in the last match of the day against Sorana Cirstea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember the last time I saved match points, probably when I was 15, but I\u2019m really happy to get through today. It was a long one. I know you guys are probably here for Alex, so I\u2019m sorry to make you wait!\u201d Gauff told the cheering fans in the Centre Court stands. \u201cBut if I\u2019m not mistaken, I think that some of you guys are cheering for me, so I appreciate it a lot, and I hope you guys enjoy the next match. But thank you for cheering for me for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the two-time Grand Slam champion will face Eala for the first time, after the 20-year-old clinched a 7-5 6-4 win over Cirstea in front of her adoring fans in Dubai. Eala has been causing a stir throughout the Middle Eastern swing, with countless Filipino spectators turning up to cheer her on.<\/p>\n

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Gauff is well aware that the crowd will be on her opponent\u2019s side in Thursday\u2019s quarter-final. But the No. 3 seed in Dubai isn\u2019t bothered about having the fans against her. Instead, Gauff believes the 20-year-old has been great for the sport and is a big fan of her game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I played a couple people in their home \u2013 well, crowds are mainly for them. Jasmine [Paolini] in Rome, [Lois] Boisson in Roland Garros. It won’t be the first time,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cI don’t know. I feel like it’s great for the sport to have this atmosphere. It’s very fun, regardless if the crowd is for you or not. Then obviously with her game, she’s really a great, talented player. She’s already beaten some top-10 players in straight sets. If I were to play her, it will definitely be a tough match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eala has already racked up some big wins, most of which came at last year\u2019s Miami Open, when she was a teenage wildcard ranked No. 140. The Filipino star stunned Iga Swiatek<\/a>, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko on her way to the semi-finals, ultimately losing to Jessica Pegula.<\/p>\n

Since then, she\u2019s won a WTA 125 title, reached two more tour-level semi-finals, and currently sits at a career-high ranking of No. 40. But Eala knows that a win over Gauff in Dubai would be one of the biggest of her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think it’s a great opportunity for me. Win or lose tomorrow, I think it’s great for me to learn. Obviously, facing a player like Coco is something that people, like, would kill to do. In a quarterfinal here in Dubai, as well. So I’m super excited for that,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt would definitely be up there if it were to happen. But like I said, win or lose, I think the match would be a great experience for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff apologised to the fans in Dubai after reaching the quarter-finals on Wednesday \u2013 only to set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[57731,23967,7510,159017,157107,159016,101,118,872,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-436029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-alex-eala","9":"tag-alexandra-eala","10":"tag-coco-gauff","11":"tag-dubai-duty-free-tennis-championships","12":"tag-dubai-tennis-championships","13":"tag-gauff-vs-eala","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tennis","16":"tag-tennis-news","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}