Melbourne, Jan 27 (IANS) Elina Svitolina staged the major upset of Australian Open on Tuesday night as she stunned the third seed Coco Gauff in just 59 minutes and advanced to her fourth career Grand Slam semifinal, and first at the Australian Open, here on Tuesday.
While Gauff struggled with her serve, unforced error count and, early on, even her string tension, Svitolina did everything right to close out a 6-1, 6-2 victory that puts her first Grand Slam semifinal since the summer of 2023 and her first in Australia at the age of 31.
Gauff’s serving struggles reached a breaking point in this crucial seventh game, as she committed two devastating double faults that handed Svitolina easy points. Svitolina’s penetrating baseline play proved decisive as she claimed the opening set 6-1 in dominant fashion.
Gauff fought desperately to stay alive, opening with a strong wide serve, but couldn’t sustain her level under pressure. Svitolina’s clinical performance throughout the match, breaking serve five times total, secured her place in the final four.
With a win over Gauff, Svitolina extended her winning streak to 10 straight matches, the third-longest tour-level streak of her career. In 2017, she won 15 matches in a row, and in 2025 she won 11 straight.
The world No.12, supported courtside by husband Gael Monfils, collected a 19th tour title in Auckland during her Australian Open build-up, and hasn’t dropped a set so far at Melbourne Park. She’s now guaranteed to return to the Top 10 in the WTA Rankings for the first time since October 2021 in next Monday’s rankings.
Svitolina’s win over Gauff is her 24th career Top 5 win. Four of those have come at Grand Slams, all since her return from maternity leave.
She will bid to reach her first Grand Slam final when she faces No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who leads their head-to-head 5-1, on Thursday.
–IANS
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