World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka was left stunned after being beaten by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 32 at the Qatar Open on Tuesday.

A tightly fought contest saw world No 26 Alexandrova earn a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) win over Sabalenka, who was playing in her first match since her defeat in the Australian Open final last month.

Alexandrova came from a break down twice in the third set and held serve twice before earning victory in two hours and 36 minutes, setting up a last-16 clash with Elise Mertens.

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Sabalenka was all smiles when an invading cat stopped her match with Alexandrova

Alexandrova defeated Emma Raducanu 6-3 7-5 on Sunday, subjecting the Brit to a third straight first-round loss and a fourth in a row in all tournaments following her third-round exit to Swiatek at the Australian Open when she was thumped 6-1 6-0.

Earlier, Coco Gauff suffered an early exit at the WTA 1000 in Qatar, sinking to a straight-sets defeat to Marta Kostyuk in the second round after an error-strewn performance.

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Highlights of Coco Gauff’s defeat to Marta Kostyuk in the second round of the Qatar Open

The world No 3 was beaten 6-2 7-5 in Doha in her first match since being knocked out of the Australian Open at the quarter-final stage by Paula Badosa last month.

Gauff – who made 39 unforced errors and hit only eight winners – handed Kostyuk two match points with successive double faults, her sixth and seventh of the match, in the 12th game of the second set.

Coco Gauff (Getty Images)

Image: Gauff made 39 unforced errors during her straight-sets loss in Doha

The Ukrainian converted the second of those when her opponent slapped a backhand into the net and will now face Poland’s Magda Linette or Magdalena Frech in the last 16.

Kostyuk, the world No 21, said in her on-court interview: “Coco is an incredible fighter. We always have incredible matches. I tried to stick to what I had to do. I’m very happy it worked out in two sets.”

Gauff won fewer than half her first-serve points in the first set en route to being broken three times, while she then lost serve twice in the second set after being 3-1 up.

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Highlights as Iga Swiatek made light work of Maria Sakkari in Doha

World No 2 Iga Swiatek, who is chasing a fourth successive Qatar Open title, began her tournament with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Maria Sakkari on Monday.

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