“Wake me up when she starts taking the sport seriously again”- After Coco Gauff’s loss against Anna Kalinskaya, fans sound verdict on the American’s career
The American suffered her second defeat in her fourth match since the Australian Open semis and drew the flak of fans.
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Coco Gauff (Image via Imago)
World No. 3 Coco Gauff‘s luck seems to be on the opposite side of hers lately. Following her semi-final loss to Aryna Sabalenka at the 2024 Australian Open, she has won and lost two matches.
Her recent defeat came at the 2024 Dubai Championships, the WTA-1000 event. She was up against qualifier Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-finals. The Russian won the tie 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach her maiden semi-finals at a WTA-1000 event. It also became her biggest career win in terms of ranking.
After a straight-set win in her campaign opener, Gauff was tested by Karolina Pliskova in the third round. The teen however found her way somehow to advance. Kalinskaya had defeated in-form Jelena Ostapenko to record her fifth consecutive straight-set win in Dubai this week.
The Russian even had to take a medical timeout for her back issues. She did have slip up in the second set blowing a 5-2 that saw Gauff make it 5-4. But the World No. 40 served it out to force a third set before winning it comfortably.
As a result, she secured her second Top-10 win of the season. Helping her was Gauff’s poor service game as she committed eight double faults and could hit only three aces. Kalinskaya hit only a single ace throughout the match but made two double faults with nearly a perfect baseline game to frustrate Gauff.
Having started the season 10-0, Gauff is now 12-3. Although she does have one Tour title which she won in Auckland while also making the semis in Melbourne Park, fans were quick to criticise her following her exit in Dubai.
Fans label Coco Gauff ‘overhyped’ as they question the teen’s performance
Following the conclusion of the match, reactions started pouring in. Many congratulated Kalinskaya for her fabulous victory given her fitness issues mid-match.
Having made it to the quarter-finals in the Australian Open last month before losing to eventual runner-up Qinwen Zheng, big things were expected from the Russian and she’s delivering them. However, Gauff faced the heat from many, especially for her cold handshake after the defeat.
As the winner was set to take on World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, many mocked Gauff over her 1-9 head-to-head record against the Pole. The top seed had defeated Zheng in the quarter-final to reach the last four. Swiatek and Kalinskaya will lock horns later in the day.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)