DUBAI: Amanda Anisimova ended a tearful Mirra Andreeva’s Dubai title defence on Thursday with a comeback 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(7/4) victory in the quarter-finals.
The second-seeded American trailed the fifth seed Russian Andreeva by a set and a break before rallying back to complete a two-hour 38-minute win. She booked a place in the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth time in her career.
Anisimova next faces fellow American Jessica Pegula who beat Dane Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
In the night session, Coco Gauff made it three Americans in the semi-finals with a merciless 6-0, 6-2 dismissal of Filipina rising star Alexandra Eala.
In front of a buoyant Filipino-majority crowd, Gauff took the first nine games of her match before Eala finally got on the board.
The third-seeded Gauff, who struggled on serve in the previous round, committing a whopping 16 double faults, struck her eighth of the match to give Eala a lifeline and surrender a break.
That was the last blip from Gauff, who wrapped up the win on the 67-minute mark to reach her second Dubai semi-final.
Gauff will take on seventh seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the last four after the two-time Dubai champion beat Croatian lucky loser Antonia Ruzic.
Svitolina put an end to Ruzic’s run in the UAE, coming from behind to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 against the world number 67.
Pegula advanced to a seventh consecutive tour-level semi-final — dating back to the 2025 US Open — with a hard-fought three-set win against Tauson.
Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2026
