American McCartney Kessler earned the first Top 10 victory of her young career on Tuesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, upsetting No. 3 seed Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-5.

Dubai: Draws | Scores | Order of play 

University of Florida alumna Kessler was 0-2 against Top 10 players last year — her second full season as a pro — before she topped Gauff in just under an hour and a half on Dubai’s Court 1 as day turned to evening thanks to a nearly five-hour rain delay that disrupted the day’s schedule. Playing a Top 5 player for the first time, the world No. 53 saved five of the six break points she faced — only losing serve when she tried to serve out the match for the first time at 6-4, 5-4 — and broke Gauff’s serve three times.

Kessler, who had upset Doha champion Amanda Anisimova in the first round, is through to the third round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in her career, and will face No. 14 seed Karolina Muchova, who defeated 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu 7-6(6), 6-4.

Read on for more takeaways from Kessler’s win.

Scuffling Gauff drops third straight match: After winning her first nine matches of the year, Gauff has now lost her last three — including second-round losses at both Middle East WTA 1000 events. 

In addition, the defeat snapped Gauff’s 36-match winning streak against players ranked outside the Tp 50. Gauff’s last such loss to a player in that ranking range came at Wimbledon two summers ago, when she was beaten in the first round by Sofia Kenin, then ranked No. 128.

Kessler continues to make strides: This time last year, Kessler was ranked exactly 100 spots lower than her current ranking, and was yet to make her WTA main-draw debut. But in the last six months, the 25-year-old has notched several milestones, including her first two career Hologic WTA Tour singles titles.

Her win against Anisimova was her first Top 20 victory in four attempts, and with her win against Gauff, she is now 6-2 against players ranked ahead of her so far in 2025.