Elina Svitolina produced a masterclass in just 59 minutes against the mediocre Coco Gauff, the Ukrainian 12th seed who defeated the world number three USA 6-1 6-2, sending shockwaves through Melbourne Park to see one of the favorites for the Australian Open summarily dismissed.
Thanks to her for forcing me to play like that. 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. Usually I manage to get away, at least to tighten the score, and then, you never know, nerves might kick in, something like that. Today I just couldn’t… Coco Gauff
In the biggest upset of the tournament, Svitolina, supported by her husband Gael Monfils from the sidelines, put in a strong display of consistent tennis, but she got more than a helping hand from Gauff, whose tally of three winners was far surpassed by her 26 unforced errors, which told their own story.
“This means a lot to me, and of course I’m trying to push myself, give myself the motivation to keep going, and I’m very happy with this performance in Australia,” said Svitolina, who is undefeated in 10 matches so far this year. “Overall it was a good journey for me and I’m very happy to have made it through to my semi-finals!
“I am very happy with the tournament so far and of course it has always been my dream to come back after my maternity leave and get into the Top 10 again. It has always been my goal, and now I have it.”
While Gauff struggled early with both her serve and unforced error count as well as her string tension, Svitolina did everything she could to close out the win, putting her into a 4th Major semi-final at the age of 31, and her first in Australia.
The 21-year-old American, a two-time Grand Slam champion, looked a little lost at times under the roof of Rod Laver Arena, coughing up five double faults early in the match, in addition to the 26 unforced errors that undid her.
© Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images
On the other side of the net, Svitolina built a perfect match from the very beginning and kept her cool in the closing stages to overcome a tenth win of the season and face world number 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals after the Belarusian overpowered 18-year-old American Iva Jovic earlier on Tuesday.
After returning to the tour in 2023 after maternity leave, Svitolina is in the form of her life and has been unbeatable so far in January.
The world number 12 claimed her 19th career tour title in Auckland during her AO 2026 build-up, and has not dropped a set at Melbourne Park so far.
“Not bad, not bad,” she joked after being told she will return to the Top 10 for the first time since 2021 when the new WTA rankings are released. “It has always been my goal. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out last year and I stopped after September.
“When we were training in the offseason, I told my coach, ‘I want to get back in the Top 10,’ so that was my goal for this year.”
When the roof of the Rod Laver Arena was closed on Tuesday due to the extreme heat in Melbourne, it was almost immediately clear that US Open and Roland Garros champion Gauff was not around, and nowhere near her best.
They traded breaks in the opening few minutes before Svitolina quickly pulled away, and two double faults in the third game helped the Ukrainian get another break and take a 3-1 lead, thanks to an aggressive serve-forehand combination.
Desperate to stop the slide, Gauff sent out a set of rackets to be restrung, presumably due to the cooler conditions under the roof, after organizers had previously invoked their extreme heat policy on a scorching late afternoon.
Already in the fifth game, the young American turned to her box and begged for solutions, while Svitolina was excited and flying, soon launching herself into another forehand winner on game point for a 5-1 lead, while another double fault from Gauff followed on set point to end the one-sided first chapter.
Time was running out quickly for Gauff to turn the match around, and when the 21-year-old was broken again and trailed 2–0 in the second, she still hadn’t held serve after almost 40 minutes on the court, mastering just two winners and 19 unforced errors after the nine games played.
Elina Svitolina was in top form against Coco Gauff, taking her winning streak to 10 matches this year without losing a set at Melbourne Park
© Phil Walter/Getty Images
At this stage, the biggest challenge for Svitolina was not to get ahead of herself.
Although Gauff eventually played back-to-back service games to make the second set a little more competitive, it was too little too late as she had left herself too much to do.
Another break followed and the Ukrainian was able to celebrate after one of the most astonishing wins of her career, having converted six of her seven break point chances.
The result meant the 12th seed, a former world number 3, marched into the semi-finals here for the first time in her career and her fourth Grand Slam semi-final overall.
Svitolina’s consistency was key, with her serve at a high level allowing her to win 71% of her first serve points and find her best deliveries when it mattered most.
Her total of four aces included one to seal a 3-0 lead in the second set, and another at 3-1, 30-30, which was the only moment in the match that felt like it could be a turning point.
“For me it’s about finding new ways to win now,” Svitolina said at her press conference. “There are so many young players. There are so many aggressive players that if you’re not at your best, they just take the game away from you. So you have to develop your game. You have to be better. You have to try to find ways to find something that works for you.”
“For me it’s about getting better every week, because you know, tennis development doesn’t stop. So you always have to keep looking.”
The Ukrainian was fully aware of Gauff’s ability to make a comeback and remained focused.
“Of course it’s a good feeling and a bad feeling at the same time,” Svitolina said. “Because you feel like you have a chance to play well, you have a chance to win this match. You have to keep going. You have to keep trying to perform well.”
“I think I played well. I think I handled it well. Because Coco is such a great champion, she came back a few times in our matches with one set down. For me, I just tried to keep building, keep playing well and really stay focused from the beginning to the end.”
A despondent Coco Gauff shook hands with Elina Svitolina after losing inside an hour at Rod Laver Arena on Day 10 of the Australian Open
© Phil Walter/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Gauff has struggled since winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open last year, especially with her serve, and after hastily leaving the Rod Laver Arena crowd in disbelief at the result, she was filmed backstage destroying her racket after the loss.
Throughout the tournament, the world number 3 built a reputation for getting herself out of tough situations, and as the pressure mounted, Gauff would serve her way out, a skill that, by her own admission, was a work in progress, but something she had honed in Melbourne.
But in Tuesday’s quarterfinal against Svitolina, Gauff simply had no answers, and she never really got into the 59-minute match, the fastest AO women’s singles quarterfinal in six years.
“Normally, when people raise their level, I can raise mine, and today I didn’t,” an emotional Gauff later told the media. “Sometimes, if you lose a set 6-1, it’s like ‘okay, whatever, reset’. And then, at 3-0 [in the second set]I was happy to get that game. I felt like all the things I do well, I just didn’t do them well.
“I tried my best to be positive, but I felt like nothing was working for me.”
Gauff committed 14 unforced errors in the first set, including 5 double faults, and while players can generally turn things around when they have a bad set, Svitolina was ruthless on the attack, slamming the door on a potential American comeback.
“Credit to her because she forced me to play like that,” Gauff said. “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.
“Usually I’m able to cut away, at least to tighten up the score, and then, you never know, nerves could kick in, something like that. Today I just wasn’t able to do that.”
Elina Svitolina’s impressive performance in Melbourne puts her back in the Top 10 next week
© Izhar Khan/AFP via Getty Images
Last September, Svitolina ended her 2025 season early, citing a need “to heal and recharge,” and has positively raced out of the blocks upon her return.
She claimed her 19th career title in Auckland early this year and is now on the third-longest tour-level winning streak of her career, having won 15 straight matches in 2017 and now 11 straight matches since last year.
Svitolina has lost just one set so far in 2026, and that was against Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the Auckland quarter-finals, when she trailed 3-5 in the third set before escaping, 6-4 6-7(2) 7-6(5).
She is now guaranteed to return to the Top 10 of the PIF WTA Rankings for the first time since October 2021 in next Monday’s rankings.
Her victory over Gauff is her 24th career Top 5 win, with four of those coming at the Grand Slams, all since her return from maternity leave.
She is also level with Gauff at 2-2, including 2-0 at the Australian Open, after beating the American 6-4, 6-3 in the 2021 second round, while the American’s pair of wins in the series both came in 2024, in the Auckland final, and in the third round of the US Open, both from a set down.
The Ukrainian now bids to reach her first Grand Slam final against Sabalenka, who is also on a 10-match winning streak and leads their head-to-head 5-1.
Svitolina’s only win came in the Strasbourg semi-finals in 2020, and since then she has won just one set in four meetings with Sabalenka.
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