Coco Gauff’s Qatar Open woes continued on Tuesday as she lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in her opening match.
After a disappointing Australian Open campaign, Gauff’s struggles continued in Doha as she struggled to impose her will against her Italian opponent.
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Gauff wanted to be more aggressive during her matches at the Doha Open; however, any plan she put in place clearly did not work, as Cocciaretto quickly took control of their second-round contest.
Gauff’s record in Qatar has been abysmal in recent years: she has now lost her opening match at the event on three consecutive occasions.
The 21-year-old, who will become the American number one at the end of this week, has also let an important opportunity slip through her grasp.
Coco Gauff’s missed opportunity in Doha
The gravity of this missed opportunity increases when studying the possible path Gauff would have had to the title.
In Gauff’s section of the draw, precisely zero seeded players have advanced to the round of 16. Camila Osorio, Ann Li, Jelena Ostapenko and Cocciaretto are all unseeded at the event, with Ostapenko and Cocciaretto both knocking out seeded players on their way to the last 16.
Therefore, if Gauff had defeated Cocciaretto, she would have had a fantastic opportunity to reach the Qatar Open semi-finals, where she would have likely faced Elena Rybakina.
Coco Gauff had only 10 WTA points to defend at this year’s Qatar Open following her opening round loss to Marta Kostyuk at the 2025 event.
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Therefore, Gauff had the opportunity to gain a maximum of 990 points at this year’s tournament.
Simply put: Gauff has squandered this opportunity. If the American had won the Qatar Open, she would have likely returned to world number three and been within a few hundred points of Iga Swiatek in the number two position.
Rick Macci weighs in on Gauff’s loss
Rick Macci, the former coach of Serena and Venus Williams, has suggested Coco Gauff’s serve is showing significant progress, but that her forehand still needs work.
On X, Macci [pictured below] said: “Coco will be fine. Serve biomechanically is night/ day. On track.
“The forehand because it is an open ended technical change because you moving and grooving is going to be a weapon at times and spray at times.
“Still on forehand takeback the elbow position should be 100 per cent different.”
Macci has been a consistent supporter of the changes Gauff has made to her serve. Despite Gauff serving 17 double faults against Jessica Pegula at the 2025 WTA Finals, Macci said she had made ‘unreal improvement’ on the shot.
Coco Gauff’s record in Qatar
Gauff made her debut at the Qatar Open in 2022, where she defeated Shelby Rogers, Caroline Garcia and Paula Badosa to reach the quarter-finals. Gauff was defeated by Maria Sakkari in the last eight, 3-6, 3-6.
A year later, Gauff returned to the quarter-final stage after defeating Petra Kvitova – the two-time Wimbledon Women’s Singles champion.
However, she was again halted in the last eight, this time by Veronika Kudermetova.
| Year | Round Reached | Opponent she lost to |
| 2022 | Quarter-finals | Maria Sakkari |
| 2023 | Quarter-finals | Veronika Kudermetova |
| 2024 | Second Round [first match after bye] | Katerina Siniakova |
| 2025 | Second Round [first match after bye] | Marta Kostyuk |
| 2026 | Second Round [first match after bye] | Elisabetta Cocciaretto |
As mentioned previously, Gauff has since lost three consecutive opening round matches at the event: to Katerina Siniakova, Marta Kostyuk and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
