Elina Svitolina stuns Coco Gauff with 59-minute win to reach Australian Open semifinal

World No. 12 Elina Svitolina booked her place in the maiden Australian Open semifinal of her career with a dominant straight-sets victory over Coco Gauff on Tuesday, wrapping up the quarterfinal in just 59 minutes.

Svitolina advanced to her fourth Grand Slam semifinal overall after dismantling the world No. 3 and two-time major champion 6-1, 6-2. The 31-year-old will now face top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.

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A 19-time WTA Tour title winner, Svitolina is still chasing her first Grand Slam crown and will be eyeing a deep run in Melbourne. The win over Gauff extended her winning streak to 10 consecutive matches, her third-longest run at tour level. Previously, she recorded a 15-match winning streak in 2017 and an 11-match streak in 2025.

This marks Svitolina’s fourth career Grand Slam semifinal and her first at the Australian Open, having previously reached the semifinals twice at Wimbledon and once at the US Open.

Svitolina has been in impressive form since returning after ending her 2025 season early to “heal and recharge”. She claimed her 19th career title in Auckland earlier this month and has dropped just one set during the stretch, against Sonay Kartal in the Auckland quarterfinals. With her latest victory, she has returned to the WTA top 10 for the first time since October 2021.

“Not bad, not bad at all. It’s always been my dream to come back into the top 10 after maternity leave, that’s always been my goal,” Svitolina said, as quoted on the WTA’s official website.

Standing in her way next is world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who continued her dominant run in Melbourne by crushing 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0 on Rod Laver Arena in under 90 minutes.

The victory marked Sabalenka’s fourth consecutive Australian Open semifinal appearance and her 14th Grand Slam semifinal overall.

“She’s a young, great player. Super happy to get this win in straight sets and happy with the level I played today,” Sabalenka said after the match. “In the second set, I felt I had to step in and put even more pressure on her. She’s young, hungry, and I could tell she would keep fighting no matter the score.”

Despite the loss, Jovic enjoyed a breakthrough run, becoming the youngest player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals without dropping a set since Venus Williams in 1998.

Earlier in the tournament, Sabalenka stormed into the quarterfinals with a commanding 6-1, 7-6(1) win over world No. 17 Victoria Mboko. The two-time Australian Open champion also extended her remarkable streak of Grand Slam tiebreak victories to 20, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s long-standing record of 19 consecutive major tiebreak wins set between 2005 and 2007.

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