Shocker at Australian Open! Coco Gauff loses quarterfinal tie in 59 minutes as Svitolina advances

American third seed Coco Gauff conceded her chance of reaching an Australian Open semi-final in just 59 minutes after shockingly losing the high-octane quarter-final clash to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina. The 12th seed caused the biggest upset at Melbourne Park this time by beating Gauff 6-1, 6-2 under a closed Rod Laver Arena. Svitolina will face the women’s world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, who earlier beat teenager Iva Jovic, in the semis.

Playing her 14th career Slam quarter, the 31-year-old Svitolina had earlier reached a major’s last four thrice, but never in the Australian Open. In the lead-up to the tournament, Svitolina won the Auckland Open (this month) and has been on a 10-match winning streak since. Expressing her joy over entering her maiden AO semis, Svitolina said, "Very, very pleased with the tournament so far."

Meanwhile, making the semi-finals will propel her back into the top 10.

"It's always been my dream to come back after maternity leave to make the top 10. Always been my goal," she said after beating Gauff. "It means the world to me. And of course, I try to push myself; I try to give myself this motivation to continue. Very pleased with the performance at this tournament in Australia."

On the other hand, two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff's serve deserted her, broken four times in the first set and twice in the second to leave her title aspirations in tatters. She won just 41 per cent of her first service points, while throwing in 19 unforced errors. Gauff suffered from serving issues all tournament and was broken immediately.

Svitolina, with husband Gael Monfils watching on, failed to capitalise and conceded her serve as well, but Gauff then sent down two double faults at crucial moments to be broken yet again. Clearly flustered, she was broken for the third time, two love, as the Ukrainian raced to 5-1 with a fifth double fault of the match, gifting Svitolina another break and the set in 29 minutes.

Watch how Svitolina dominated Gauff -

Gauff summoned a ball kid and asked for three racquets to be restrung, and left the court for a toilet break after the first set annihilation. But it didn't help, broken for a fifth straight time to open set two. She finally managed to hold on her sixth attempt, but there was no way back.

Watch Svitolina's winning moment -

It is the first time Svitolina has reached the last four in Melbourne after quarter-final runs in 2018, 2019 and 2025. She has made the semi-finals at Slams three times previously, most recently at Wimbledon in 2023.

(With inputs from AFP)