Coco Gauff is known across her sport for her mental toughness and problem-solving abilities, her tendency to grind out victories from unenviable positions. However, down 1-6, 0-3, 0-30 on Tuesday night and sinking quickly, the 21-year-old has rarely looked as helpless on a tennis court as when she expressed her despair to her support team: “She’s outdoing me in everything,” she said.
This time, there was no way back for the third seed as Elina Svitolina ended a courageous, focused performance by securing the most significant result of the Australian Open so far, completely dismantling Gauff 6-1, 6-2 to reach her first semi-final in Melbourne.
Svitolina, the 12th seed, will next face Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1 and two-time Australian Open champion. Earlier on Tuesday, Sabalenka dismantled the 29th seed Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 to reach her fourth consecutive semi-final here.
A former world No 3, Svitolina is one of the most accomplished players of her generation and the 31-year-old has now reached four major semi-finals from 14 quarter-finals. This victory is particularly special, however, as it means she will return to the top 10 for the first time since returning to competition in 2023 after giving birth to her daughter, Skaï. Svitolina has started the 2026 season supremely well, winning the Auckland Open and now 10 matches in a row. This is her second consecutive win over a top-10 player after defeating No 7 Mirra Andreeva in the previous round, and she still has not dropped a set.
“After maternity leave, it was my dream to come back into the top 10,” she said. “Always been my goal. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen last year, I stopped after September [due to injury] and then when we were training in the off-season, I told my coach: ‘I want to come back to top 10 this year,’ so this was my goal this year.”
This was an excruciating performance from Gauff, who struggled badly from the first game. After her defeat, Gauff walked off the court and destroyed her racket, smashing it more than five times on the floor in the tunnel that connects Rod Laver Arena to the stadium. She later criticised the Australian Open organisers for broadcasting such a private moment.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” said Gauff. “I don’t try to do it on court in front of kids and things like that, but I do know I need to let out that emotion. Otherwise, I’m just going to be snappy with the people around me, and I don’t want to do that, because like they don’t deserve it. They did their best. I did mine. Just need to let the frustration out.”
Elina Svitolina wipes her tears as she speaks with media after her win over Coco Gauff. Photograph: Izhar Khan / AFP via Getty Images
From the beginning, Gauff navigated familiar difficulties with her serve and forehand, double-faulting five times in the opening set. However, no part of Gauff’s game was functional, not even her trustworthy two-handed backhand. She haemorrhaged unforced errors from all parts of the court, finishing with 26 to only three winners. “I credit it to her because she forced me to play like that,” said Gauff. “It’s not like I just woke up and, yeah, today was a bad day, but bad days are often caused by your opponent. So she did well.”
While Gauff looked like a shadow of herself, this result was a testament to the significant improvements Svitolina has made in the second half of her career. She did not put a foot wrong. During the early days of her career, the 31-year-old would have played passively and prayed for her opponents to miss, particularly in the grand slam tournaments when she often struggled. Here, she planted herself on top of the baseline and robbed time from Gauff by taking the ball early, putting the American under constant pressure with her bold aggression.
Svitolina also served well, hitting her spots on her first delivery and she continually looked for chances to attack on her forehand, which averaged an immense 78mph halfway through the second set and guided her to a well-deserved victory. “I tried to trust myself, and my coach always tells me that I have to trust myself,” said Svitolina. “When I’m fresh, when I’m mentally ready to face difficult situations, then I can play well. I can be tough on the court.”
Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka stays in the shade as she prepares to serve to USA’s Iva Jovic during their quarter-final match at the Australian Open. Photograph: David Gray / AFP via Getty Images
Earlier, Sabalenka bulldozed the 18-year-old Jovic to continue her run through the draw. She continues to extend one of the great grand slam records of this century. She has now reached the semi-finals in 12 of her last 13 majors, the one anomaly being her grim experience at the French Open in 2024 where she was desperately struggling with food poisoning during her quarter-final loss to Mirra Andreeva. Even then, she only narrowly fell, losing in three tight sets.
“When I’m in the tournament, I’m not thinking about that, but sometimes we all stop for a second and we think the level we were able to reach, it sounds really incredible and tough to believe,” Sabalenka said. “For sure, sometimes I just think that it’s unbelievable what I was able to achieve.” – Guardian