Standing on the other side of the net in Qatar was Marta Kostyuk, a tricky opponent for Gauff to commence the competition.

She proved to be the superior player during their match as the Ukrainian secured a 6-2, 7-5 victory to end Gauff’s campaign at the Doha Open before it really truly began.

Serena Williams ex-coach Rick Macci points out what Coco Gauff needs to change after Doha exit

Coco Gauff struggled on her serve and forehand throughout her fifth match against Kostyuk.

The 20-year-old was broken three times in the opening set and she won less than half of the points on her first serve, in addition to committing 19 unforced errors, most of which came via her forehand.

Gauff began the second set brightly and broke Kostyuk’s serve, but could not maintain her advantage and succumbed to her first loss to the Ukrainian on a hard court.

The tournament’s third seed struck an alarming total of 39 unforced errors in the defeat, and registered just eight winners.

Assessing her performance on social media platform X, Rick Macci, who previously coached Serena Williams, expects Gauff to bounce back, but commented what she must change in her game.

“Coco will be fine as she is a fighter and has turbo jets in her shoes. X factor for greatness is the second serve not connected properly and the forehand is the same,” he wrote. “When your confident technical flaws can Hide. When you get nervous they bubble up and opponents seek it.”

Coco Gauff suffers back-to-back opening round losses at the Doha Open

The Doha Open has not been a happy hunting round in Gauff’s career so far.

A year ago she was beaten by her French Open 2024 title winning doubles partner Katerina Siniakova in the first round, and reached the quarter-finals in 2022 and 2023.

Gauff has also now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since the Cincinnati Masters in August 2024. She exited the Doha Open on a day where three top 10 players lost their opening match.

Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng continued her poor start to the season by losing to Ons Jabeur, while World number one Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova.