Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Round Up | Rybakina stunned with early retirement, Gauff comes through tense battle while Anisimova and Andreeva safely progress

The number one seed Elena Rybakina will play no more part in the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after retiring from her match against Antonia Ruzic while trailing the Croatian 7-5, 4-6, 0-1.

Rybakina never looked at her absolute best on court with what seemed like a routine pathway into the quarterfinals on paper going the completely opposite direction. She was on the backfoot from the early stages, going 2-0 down after being broken in the first game.

She mounted a fightback and got the match back on serve after a flurry of breaks. As the score came to 5-5, Rybakina took command. She won the next eight points to seal the first set.

This looked to be the foothold the Australian open champion needed to accelerate away but another early break left her not in an ideal position. It was relatively routine from there with both players holding through to the conclusion of the set where Ruzic levelled the scoreline. After going down an early break for the third consecutive time, Rybakina took a medical timeout. It was unveiled that she had a rough night sleep and was not in pristine condition to compete. Therefore, she called it a day and handed Ruzic a free passageway into a maiden WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

"It was actually a crazy story that I got in as a lucky loser because I lost the first round of qualification," Ruzic explained to the media. "I stayed here because of the doubles because we were first alternate and then they said like sign in because maybe you would get in. Sometimes you have to take the second chances. A lot of girls had amazing runs from the lucky losers because you get a second chance so you have nothing to lose anymore. You can just show your best tennis. I'm happy with how I played today."

It was heart in the mouth stuff for Coco Gauff today as her troubles on court continues. Despite the imminent prospect of exiting at this stage, her sheer grit and determination saw her complete an outstanding comeback against Elise Mertens, surviving three match points to win 2-6, 7-6(9), 6-3.

The match started out badly for the two-time Grand Slam champion as she fell behind in the first set, unable to get the best tennis out of her. A whole bunch of break points continued to change the momentum of the second set but eventually Gauff found herself 5-3 to the good. Mertens responded in the nick of time and led 6-5. She had the chance to serve the match out, but Gauff forced a tiebreaker. Both players had chances to clinch the set with Mertens squandering three match points. Gauff also failed to take one but eventually got the job done to draw level in the match. She then raced away with the end, winning three games on the trot to confirm a resilient victory.

Despite mustering up a huge 16 double faults, the world number four managed to somehow find a way to. “The whole match felt like it wasn’t going my way,” Gauff said afterwards. “It wasn’t the best, but I just tried to stay in it, and I did fight for every point. I’m happy I was able to get the result today. Elise is a great player, so I just had to stay settled. I knew I could win; it was just [a matter] if I could find my game. And I did a little bit at times, and sometimes I didn’t, but it’s okay.”

Jessica Pegula continues her consistency at a very high level as she takes down a tricky test in the form of Iva Jovic 6-4, 6-2 as she sails onwards and upwards.

The first set was dominated by the server throughout as both players patiently waited for their chance to strike. The more experienced Pegula grabbed her opportunity with open arms, breaking to go 4-3 ahead before seeing it through. She then went on an incredible run to lay waste of any comeback hopes from the 18-year-old. She won five games in a row to move 5-1 to the good before holding to love to confirm a statement victory.

Just before that, Amanda Anisimova also safely made it into a sixth WTA 1000 quarterfinal with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Janice Tjen. She came out of the blocks like a rocket, winning the first three games before winning the final three games with a break in the middle of both those stints to streak out in front.

Tjen started the second set the brighter going 2-0 ahead but she would manage just one more game for the rest of the match as the two-time Grand Slam finalist ran away with it.

Mirra Andreeva admitted that she was not happy with her level today after taking down Jaqueline Cristian 7-5, 6-3. She ended up committing 31 unforced errors in a topsy turvey match where only eight holds in 21 games competed in.

Three of these came in the first set where both players grappled and tussled for the outright advantage. Andreeva shot ahead in the early stages as she led 3-1 before the Romanian got on level terms. Six consecutive breaks saw Andreeva move 6-5 ahead before winning the final four points in the set to take the lead.

Her break of serve right at the start of the next set kept with the continuous trend but was extinguished by her opponent later on. Not to worry as the 18-year-old really stepped her foot on the gas late on. A four-game run from a 3-2 deficit kept her title hopes firmly alive and sets up an intriguing tie against Anisimova.

"Honestly, I feel my game was really far from perfect today," she said in her on-court interview. "I'm just happy I could walk away from the court as a winner. It was really tough to play here today, I really struggled with conditions. I'm just trying to force myself to freaking hit the ball. I was tense, I was nervous, I cared a lot about every single point that I was playing and sometimes I was really scared to miss. Inside of myself, I was saying, 'Mirra, you just have to dig deep and force yourself to hit the ball, otherwise she's going to take advantage of it and she's just going to go for her shots.'"

Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic both made history by becoming the first mothers in the top 10 at the same time. Only one could win out on court, and it would be Svitolina who continued her fine form with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 triumph.

It was Svitolina who snuck ahead early on, but her break advantage was immediately taken away from her. Bencic went on to win five out of the last six games from a 3-1 deficit to win the first set. She was not prepared for a rampant Svitolina to blow her away. She went 5-0 down in the second set before eventually succumbing to a tied match. In the final set the Swiss was 5-1 down and in a real spot of bother. A feeble comeback attempt was ignored by Svitolina who reaches the quarterfinal stage in Dubai for the first time since 2019, with the two-time champion set to play against Ruzic for another final.

As for the rest of the action, the 2025 runner-up Clara Tauson executed a solid game plan to find a way past Magda Linette 6-4, 6-2. The first set went the way of the Dane in the final stages as a three-game burst saw her take the lead. She did not look back, breaking right at the start of the second set before the pair traded some breaks in the favour of Tauson who eventually saw it out in just over 90 minutes.

The final match saw Alexandra Eala confirm a second WTA 1000 quarterfinal appearance is on the cards with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Sorana Cirstea. The Filipino always has so much support when competing on court, and this came into good use late in the first set when she found that critical break to put her in front. She then raced into a 4-0 lead which turned out to be the perfect foundation block to see the match through and book a matchup against Gauff in the last-eight, something that she will fancy.