Photo credit: Australian Open Facebook
Dueling dreams collided on Rod Laver Arena.
In the end, Elina Svitolina shattered Coco Gauff’s Australian Open hopes in stunning style.
The 12th-ranked Svitolina crushed Gauff 6-1, 6-2 in a 59-minute thrashing to power into her fourth career Grand Slam semifinal.
It is Svitolina’s maiden AO semifinal and she did it dominating start to finish.
“Yeah, it was a good day in the office. Very, very pleased with the way that I’ve been playing, not only this match, but I think the tournament
overall,” Svitolina said. “So, yeah, just very happy. Just happy to be in semis finally after so many years here, so many tries. Yeah, finally to be in semis in Melbourne.”
In her 13th AO appearance, the 31-year-old Svitolina will play world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in Saturday’s final.
Isolating Iva Jovic behind the baseline, Sabalenka hit the talented teenager right off the court rampaging through seven straight games in a 6-3, 6-0 destruction to charge into her fourth consecutive Australian Open semifinal.
“Of course, I mean, it’s no secret that she’s very powerful player. I watch a little bit of her
match today. She was playing great tennis, and I think, you know, the power on all aspects of her game is her strengths,” Svitolina said of facing Sabalenka. “Yeah, I think she’s very consistent for the past years with everything that she does on the court. Yeah, for me, I’ll have to be ready for that, try to find the ways and the little holes, little opportunities in her game.
“Of course, you know, when you play the top players, you have to find, you know, these small opportunities and then be ready to take them.”
A tight Gauff committed five double faults, won only 41 percent of first-serve points and never truly found her game suffering her first loss to Svitolina since the 2021 AO second round.
Coco Gauff releases her frustrations after a disappointing defeat in the Australian Open quarter-finals 💥 pic.twitter.com/4Ur9jlxR0P
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) January 27, 2026
A frustrated Gauff walked off the court and smashed her Head racquet in the hallway afterward.
“I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera, because I don’t necessarily like breaking
racquets, but I lost 1 and 2. I broke one racquet on quarters, I think, or round of 16 of French Open, I think, and I said I would never do it again on court, because I don’t feel like that’s a good representation,” Gauff said. “But yeah, I tried to go somewhere where they wouldn’t
broadcast it, but obviously they did.
“So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had, because I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.”