“They really bring out the worst in each other” - Tennis fans in disbelief after Coco Gauff & Madison Keys rack up the unforced errors in Dubai clash

Fans on Twitter reacted as Coco Gauff faced off against compatriot Madison Keys in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships and emerged as the victor of a rather sub-par tennis match. 18-year-old Gauff beat Keys 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday, February 23.

However, the match was marred by poor performances from both players. Gauff’s victory can be attributed more to Keys’ errors than her own positive performance.

Keys hit just one winner against 22 unforced errors in the first set, which Gauff won 6-2. The second set was slightly better in terms of the number of games won by Keys; however, she proceeded to make another 29 unforced errors against nine winners. Coco Gauff was not playing her best tennis either. She made 31 unforced errors in the match and only managed to hit four winners.

Tennis journalist Jose Morgado took to social media to express his shock at the performance of both American ladies. He seemed at a loss for words, and just captioned the final stats image with three simple words.

“Oh my god.” he wrote.

Fans on Twitter were also horrified by the stats and expressed their shock and awe in response to Morgado’s tweet.

“That must’ve been horrible to watch 14 winners vs 82 errors,” wrote one account.

Another account pointed out that the number of unforced errors Keys managed to commit was just one less than the total number of points she won in the match.

“Making only one unforced error less than total points won must be some sort of record for sure.” they wrote.

Another fan thought that Gauff and Keys tend to bring out the worst in each other.

“there's something specifically terrible about madikeys coco matchup, they rlly bring out the worst in eachother,” they commented.

Here are some more reactions to the tweet.

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“You just have to step on the court believing you can win” - Coco Gauff on the Iga Swiatek challenge

Coco Gauff faces Iga Swiatek in Dubai semifinal

Coco Gauff edged past countrywoman Madison Keys in the quarterfinals in Dubai in straight sets 6-2, 7-5. Despite winning, Gauff was far from her best in the encounter, making 31 unforced errors and hitting just four winners.

Next up for the 18-year-old American is none other than World No.1 Iga Swiatek. Gauff hasn’t won a single set against Swiatek in their previous five meetings. However, with a 12-2 W/L record in 2023, the American believes she can win.

"All five times, I did something wrong! To be honest, she's playing great tennis, and there's a reason she's World No.1. Tomorrow I have no pressure,” said Gauff in the post-match conference.

“I just have to play my game -- I definitely think I've gotten better since the last time I played her. Ranking is just a number at the end of the day. You just have to step on the court believing you can win, and that's what I'm going to do tomorrow." she concluded.

The No. 5 seed is playing in only the third semifinal of her career, and this will be her first semifinal appearance on a hard court.