Coco Gauff: American defeat in an epic as Elina Svitolina reaches the Dubai final

Ukrainian Elina Svitolina defeated world number four Coco Gauff to set up a final match with Jessica Pegula at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

American Pegula was the first to win the semi-finals, as she made up for the disastrous first set and broke her serve early in the second set to defeat her compatriot Amanda Anisimova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Gauff (21 years old) had the opportunity to reach an all-American final on Saturday, but Svitolina scored her victory 6-4, 6-7 (13-15), 6-4 in an epic confrontation that lasted three hours and three minutes.

The 31-year-old Svitolina had four chances to decide the match in the tiebreaker in the second set, and she was unable to exploit them, but she was able to win the deciding set.

This means she is back in the event final for the first time since claiming back-to-back titles in Dubai in 2017 and 2018.

“I was playing like there was no tomorrow, just trying to do my best,” she said.

At the Qatar Open Men’s Championship, world number one Carlos Alcaraz maintained his perfect start into 2026 with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over Russian Andrey Rublev to advance to the final.