Coco Gauff may not have done well in Doha this week but she will still make a ranking gain and return to being the top-ranked American female tennis player on Monday.
Following an Australian Open quarterfinal exit, Gauff dropped two ranking spots and fell to No. 5 in the world.
Going into the opening WTA 1000 tournament of the year, Amanda Anisimova was ranked at No. 4 in the world. However, last year's Wimbledon and US Open runner-up had a large chunk of points to defend since she was the Doha defending champion. And after exiting the Qatar Open in the second round via a retirement, the 24-year-old plummeted two spots in live rankings.
A day after Anisimova retired, Gauff – who also had a first-round bye – picked up a shock two-set second-round defeat to Elisabetta Cocciaretto. While the 21-year-old failed to gain any points this week in Doha, the defending champion's early exit ensured her top-4 return.
Gauff didn't want to sugarcoat anything following an early Doha exit
The two-time Grand Slam champion sprayed 39 unforced errors and lost her serve four times during a 6-4 6-2 loss to Cocciaretto. Addressing her loss, the American didn't hide that she was frustrated.
“I just feel like I haven’t showed up with my best level the last few matches. I’m just looking to find that again. I just feel like some of the things I’ve been working on in practice aren’t translating to the match court, which is super frustrating. I’ve been having good practices, but just not playing well in the matches. I just need to find how it can translate," Gauff explained afterward.
The American's recent frustration doesn't come as a surprise, considering that she also suffered one of the worst Grand Slam defeats of her career against Elina Svitolina when the Ukrainian beat her 6-1 6-2 in the Australian Open quarterfinal.
Gauff will now hope she can turn the page in Dubai next week and head to the Sunshine Double with some momentum.
