Coco Gauff used a lighthearted tactic to neutralize a partisan crowd and advanced to the Dubai semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Alexandra Eala.

“I had a similar match at French Open last year so I brought that mindset today,” Gauff explained on court after defeating Eala, 6-0, 6-2. “Whenever you guys were cheering for Alex, I was pretending it was my name. I think that it helped me a lot!

“If you can’t beat ‘em, you’ve got to join them,” the American added with a laugh. “Whenever you guys were cheering for Alex, I pretended it was my name,” said the American after the match.

Gauff dominated the early stages, winning the first 10 games of their first singles meeting. Eala eventually got on the board but was unable to generate pressure on Gauff’s serve. Gauff won 77% of points on her first delivery and converted six of nine break points across the 67-minute clash, applying steady pressure from the return.

Eala has become one of the WTA Tour’s breakout stars since reaching the Miami Open semifinals last spring. The Rafael Nadal Academy alum has been drawing large crowds, including a standing-room-only first-round audience at the Australian Open in January. She reached the Dubai quarterfinal after ousting former champion Jasmine Paolini in the second round and beating Sorana Cirstea in the Round of 16.

Gauff welcomed the packed stadium and praised Eala’s supporters. “I have to say, it’s great to be on a crowded court,” said Gauff, who hailed Eala’s exploding fanbase as “great for tennis” ahead of their Dubai quarterfinal. “I’d like to thank Alex for bringing a new demographic to the sport. I really appreciate it,” Gauff continued. “I think it’s great. I know sometimes it’s tough when you’re playing against a ‘home’ crowd, but I think that it’s great for the sport, so keep being enthusiastic and keep rooting for your player.”

Into her second Dubai semifinal, Gauff also moved past recent setbacks on the Middle East swing after an early loss in Qatar and a close call against Elise Mertens in the previous round. The former doubles partner pairing in 2025 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia added another chapter to their rivalry on the WTA 1000 stage.

A new WTA working group will examine the Tour calendar and seek changes that could be introduced for the 2027 season. The Tour Architecture Council was announced by WTA Chair Valerie Camillo after a run of high-profile withdrawals and mid-match retirements at the back-to-back WTA 1000 events in the Middle East.

Last week, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek withdrew from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Their absences came as eight other players also pulled out citing injury, illness and schedule changes, while four more players, including top seed Elena Rybakina, retired mid-match in Dubai. A separate report noted that GI Illness forces world No. 3 Elena Rybakina to retire against lucky loser Ruzic in Dubai.

In a letter to players and tournament partners titled ‘A Stronger Framework for Women’s Tennis,’ Camillo set out the council’s purpose and timetable. “It’s important we take a fresh, collaborative look at how to best preserve the high-quality competition that builds value for tournaments and provides an unparalleled experience for fans,” she wrote.

“Over my first 90 days, there has been a clear sentiment across the Tour that the current calendar does not feel sustainable for players given the physical, professional and personal pressures of competing at the highest level…

“For this reason, today I am establishing the Tour Architecture Council, a representative working group convened by the WTA to develop meaningful improvements to the calendar, commitments and other core elements of the Tour framework.”

The 13-person council will include players from several nations, tournament leaders from the Americas, Europe and Asia, WTA senior leadership including Camillo and WTA CEO Portia Archer, and experts in Tour operations. World No. 5 Jessica Pegula will chair the group and lead discussions intended to reflect a wide range of player experiences.

Pegula, who also serves on the WTA Player Council, explained the initiative to press in Dubai. “I know that the schedule is very tough, and it’s not easy,” she told The National’s Reem Abulleil. “I think at some point in the year, if you do have a few good results, some weeks unfortunately do become a little bit of a sacrifice if you’re thinking long term. I can’t knock any player that wants to make that decision for themselves.”

“At the end of the day, we play a lot. We play a full schedule, we play 10, 11 months out of the year sometimes,” Pegula added. “And I think right now we’re living in an age where the priority is always staying healthy mentally and physically, and you never know where a player is at with that.

“Even if they’ve been winning matches, you don’t know if they’ve been dealing with an injury throughout that whole time or not. And that’s where you see people, especially top players, be a little bit more choosy with that schedule until maybe it changes in the future.”

The council’s initial work will target areas where the WTA has direct authority, while also identifying longer-term matters that require wider coordination across the sport.

Episode 7 of The Big T podcast assembled three hosts in one room for a wide-ranging recap after a busy week on tour. The conversation returned repeatedly to Karolina Muchova’s run in Doha, where she dropped just one set en route to the 1000-level title. For a stretch the tournament looked like Victoria Mboko’s to lose; the Canadian teen had defeated Mirra Andreeva and Elana Rybakina to reach the semifinals but could not handle Muchova’s all-court game in the final.

“I feel like she’s the biggest ‘What if?’ player on the women’s tour,” says BG of Karolina Muchova, the recently crowned champion in Doha.

Panelists noted Muchova’s unusual career profile. Despite three Grand Slam semifinals, a career-high ranking of No. 8 and a 338-163 record, this Doha trophy was only her second WTA-level title and her first since 2019. Coco Vandeweghe offered another comparison, arguing Muchova “really disrupts the big power game…we haven’t seen for at least a good eight years now, since Ash retired.”

The show also examined a rare statistical footnote: for the first time in 44 years three tournaments produced finals that paired the No. 1 seed vs. the No. 2 seed. From an American perspective the standout was Taylor Fritz vs. Ben Shelton. “It was exciting, the quality was great, the men were moving incredibly well,” she said. “I was very impressed.” Fritz had three match points on Shelton’s serve but could not convert; Gilbert predicted the win will breed confidence for Shelton. “When you get a tournament win like that,” said Gilbert of Shelton, “the next place that you go to…you get in a same situation, I’m going to find another win.”

Bank or Shank returned, with the hosts weighing tennis hypotheticals. On the statement that there is too much clay on the calendar Andrea Petkovic answered Shank. Coco Vandeweghe wasn’t buying what Andrea Petkovic was selling.

The episode also addressed player retirements and schedule strain. The 2025 season saw the highest percentage of mid-tournament withdrawals and retirements on record, with 25 percent more retirements on the ATP and 50 percent more on the WTA compared with 20 years ago. “There should be some sort of penalty for retiring, because you screwed the fans—you couldn’t have been that bad, you played the next week,” said BG. “You blame the tours more than you blame the tournaments,” says Vandeweghe, noting that both tournaments were elevated to mandatory 1000s. “It makes it impossible for the women to pick and choose what they want. If you don’t play these two 1000s, then you have to put the load at the end of the year.”

Hosts invited listener questions and flagged a listener moment: Good question, Lynn from Seattle. The answer is only a click away (44-minute mark).