Elina Svitolina stuns Coco Gauff, 6-1, 6-2, to reach Australian Open semifinals for first time

Elina Svitolina is through to the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career after a ruthless 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal victory over world No. 3 Coco Gauff on Tuesday night.

She had been to the quarterfinals in Melbourne three times previously, in 2018, 2019 and 2025, but never further—until now.

She’s also through to the fourth semifinal of her career at any Grand Slam, having reached two in 2019 at Wimbledon and the US Open and one more, again at Wimbledon, in 2023.

The Ukrainian, who’s now 10-0 on the year after having captured one of the warm-up titles in Auckland two weeks ago, will next face the world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, who’s also 10-0 on the year, having won another warm-up title that week in Brisbane.

Their last two meetings had gone Gauff's way, at Auckland and the US Open in 2024, but Svitolina came out swinging this time, breaking serve in the opening game of the match.

Gauff got the break back right away to make it 1-1, but that's when Svitolina shifted to another gear, winning eight games in a row—and 12 points in a row at one point—to build a 6-1, 3-0 lead.

Gauff snapped the skid with a hold of serve in the next game to make it 3-1, and she held her next service game, too, but Svitolina was just too strong on serve, and she snuck out one last break in the final game of the match to close it out after just 59 minutes.

"It means the world to me," Svitolina told Jelena Dokic in her on-court interview about her career-best result in Melbourne.

"Of course I try to push myself, try to give myself the motivation to continue, and I'm very pleased with the performance at this tournament, and in Australia. Overall it's been a good trip for me.

"I'm happy to go through for my semifinal."

Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Svitolina in the semifinals will be No. 1-seeded Sabalenka, who advanced to the final four earlier in the day with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 29-seeded American teenager Iva Jovic, who was playing her first major quarterfinal.

Sabalenka leads Svitolina in their head-to-head, 5-1, winning their last four encounters, though one of those went to three sets (and the other three featured at least one competitive set).

Svitolina, one of five mothers who started in the Australian Open draw this year—and the only one to make it through to the second week—will also be playing for history on Thursday, as no Ukrainian woman has ever reached the final of a Grand Slam.