Dubai Championships 2024: Gauff beats Pliskova to reach quarterfinals

Coco Gauff rallied from a slow start and a second-set argument with the chair umpire to beat Karolina Pliskova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Gauff ended Pliskova’s 11-match winning streak.

The 19-year-old American built a 4-2 lead in the second set before a lengthy back-and-forth with chair umpire Pierre Bacchi. Gauff complained to Bacchi that he called her serve at deuce out only after Pliskova returned it into the net.

Gauff had to repeat her first serve and went on to hold for a 5-2 lead.

The U.S. Open champion said the argument “fueled” her.

“It’s OK. It’s just one point. That happens in tennis. Players make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “It kind of went upward from there for me.”

Gauff will next face Anna Kalinskaya after the Russian beat ninth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 7-5.