Elina Svitolina produced the biggest upset of Australian Open 2026 on Tuesday night by thrashing world No.3 Coco Gauff to move into her first Grand Slam semifinal since the summer of 2023 and go back into the world’s top 10.
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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 into a fourth major semifinal and her first in Australia at the age of 31.
The American two-time Grand Slam champion looked a little lost under the Rod Laver Arena roof at times, hitting five double faults early in the match as well as 26 unforced errors during just 59 minutes of play.
In contrast, on the other side of the net, Svitolina constructed a perfect match.
She stayed composed through the closing stages to ease through a 10th victory of the season already ahead of a semifinal against world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, who overpowered young American Iva Jovic earlier on Tuesday.
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After returning to the tour in 2023 following maternity leave, Svitolina now seems to be in the form of her life and has been unbeatable so far in January.
The world No.12, supported courtside by husband Gael Monfils, collected a 19th tour title in Auckland during her AO 2026 build-up, and hasn’t dropped a set so far at Melbourne Park.
“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.
“I’m very pleased with the tournament so far, and it’s always been my dream to come back after maternity leave back into the top 10. It’s always been my goal.
“Unfortunately it didn’t happen last year, and I stopped after September. When we were training during the offseason I told my coach, ‘I want to come back to the top 10,’ so this was my goal for this year.”
With the RLA roof closed due to extreme heat conditions in Melbourne on Tuesday, it was clear pretty quickly that US Open and Roland Garros champion Gauff was nowhere near her best.
The two exchanged breaks during the opening few minutes before Svitolina quickly pulled away.
Two double faults during the third game helped Svitolina to another break, and she was the first to hold to jump into a 3-1 lead thanks to an aggressive serve-forehand combination.
As early as the fifth game, Gauff was turning to her coaches looking for solutions, and sent two racquets back to the stringers midway through that first set in a bid for better feel and more control.
In contrast, Svitolina was fired up and flying, soon launching herself into another forehand winner on game point for a 5-1 advantage. Another Gauff double fault followed – this time on set point – and a one-sided first chapter was done.
Time was quickly running out for Gauff to somehow turn the contest around, but when the 21-year-old was broken yet again to trail 2-0 in the second set she still hadn’t held serve after nearly 40 minutes on court.
The stats sheet showed just two winners and 19 unforced errors for the young American after nine games of play.
By this stage, the greatest challenge for Svitolina was not to get ahead of herself. Although Gauff finally came through back-to-back service games to make the second set slightly more competitive, she’d simply left herself too much to do.
Another break followed – Svitolina converted six of seven break chances throughout – and the Ukrainian could start to celebrate after one of the most astonishing victories of her career.