Elina Svitolina will face Jessica Pegula for the Dubai Tennis Championships title after she edged a thrilling final-four encounter with Coco Gauff on Friday. 

In a three-set thriller that included a 28-point tie-break at the end of the second set, Svitolina claimed a 6-4 6-7 (13-15) 6-4 win to send the third seed out of the competition. 

Gauff got the better of her opponent's serve in the fourth game of the first set, only for Svitolina to respond straight back before breaking again to take the early lead. 

However, a one-hour-and-24-minute second set was to follow, with four breaks of serve unable to split the two players, with a tie-break deciding which way the match would go. 

But after missing two set points, Gauff regained her composure and ensured proceedings would go the distance after getting herself over the line at the fourth time of asking.

And it appeared as though the momentum was with Gauff when she opened the third set with a break of serve, but Svitolina dusted herself down to respond immediately. 

Svitolina and Gauff continued to trade blows, and it was the latter who blinked first in the ninth game, missing two match points to allow the Ukrainian to hold her serve. 

Gauff was unable to take advantage on serve, with Svitolina sealing her progression to the showpiece match at the second attempt to tee up a clash with fourth seed Pegula. 

WHAT A MATCH 

Elina Svitolina gives her sweat, screams & cheers to advance to her third final in Dubai after defeating Gauff in an epic battle.#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/IKw4guwcI3

— wta (@WTA) February 20, 2026

Data Debrief: Svitolina ends seven-year wait 

Svitolina has often thrived at the Doha tournament, with her victory here putting her into her third final at the competition, where she has the chance to win her third title, following her victories over Caroline Wozniacki in 2017 and Daria Kasatkina a year later. 

But since the format's introduction in 2009, at seven years and 277 days since Rome 2018, Svitolina has had the longest gap of any player between two WTA-1000 finals, with that gap calculated at the start of the respective events.

Svitolina also claimed a 25th career WTA top-five win, becoming the third active player to achieve the feat after Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka.