Gauff, Sabalenka advance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff advanced without trouble at the Dubai Duty Free nisChampioships after victories on Wednesday.

Aryna Sabalenka stepped onto the courts on Wednesday to face Anett Kontaveit in a 3rd round clash of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. She had no trouble in that match as she controlled the tempo from the start. Kontaveit struggled to withstand the immense pressure that Sabalenka brings with her aggressive playstyle and soon found herself down in the first set. She would lose it 6-3. Her hopes were quickly diminished in the 2nd set as well as Sabalenka kept applying the pressure jumping out to an early lead before ending the match with 6-2.

Joining her in the next round will be Coco Gauff who played today against Teresa Martincova and similar to Sabalenka she kept it in two sets. Gauff is enjoying a great week in Dubai that saw her score some impressive wins in the first few days of the event but today she was simply too good for her opponent. Martincova rarely goes deep in events such as these and today the difference in quality was evident. She played solid in the first set with Gauff breaking her only once to clinch it 6-4. A dip in focus for Gauff early in the 2nd gave Martincova the 2-0 lead but the American quickly pulled it back going on a 6-0 run to win it 6-2.