Clara Tauson put in a strong performance against world number five Jessica Pegula, but she lost their quarter-final at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai.
The Dane arguably played her best match of 2026 and pushed Pegula hard, but was beaten in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, after nearly two hours.
Pegula has been in excellent form for a long time and has reached the semi-finals at the last two Grand Slam tournaments.
Tauson reached the final in Dubai last year, so this defeat means she will lose ranking points. As a result, she is expected to drop to no higher than 17th in the world when the rankings are updated on Monday.
