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Osaka advances as Gauff, Jabeur dumped out of Qatar Open / Photo: © AFP
Osaka advances as Gauff, Jabeur dumped out of Qatar Open
Naomi Osaka battled into the last 16 of the Qatar Open on Tuesday but Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur crashed to surprise second-round exits with straight-sets defeats.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka brushed past Croatia's Petra Martic 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), continuing a comeback from maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter in July.
Osaka grasped control with a break in the fourth game of the opening set. She broke twice more in the second set -- either side of dropping her own serve -- only to blow a chance to close out the match at 5-4.
Martic threatened to force a third set as she won the first four points of the tie-break, but Osaka then saved four set points before her opponent double-faulted down match point.
World number three Gauff lost 6-2, 6-4 to Katerina Siniakova in her opening match, marking the first time she has failed to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament since Wimbledon last year.
US Open champion Gauff dropped serve six times in an error-strewn display, blowing a 4-0 lead in the second set.
Siniakova will face Danielle Collins in the last 16.
Fourth seed Jabeur slumped to a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, continuing a difficult start to the year for the Tunisian.
Earlier on Tuesday, Australian Open runner-up Zheng Qinwen battled to victory in her first match since losing the Melbourne final to Aryna Sabalenka, beating Magda Linette 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
F.Cha--SG
