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Svitolina hopes Gauff upset brings 'a little light' to Ukraine

27 January 2026 11:09| ยฉ AFP
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Elina Svitolina ยฉ Getty Images

Elina Svitolina said she hopes her stunning upset of third seed Coco Gauff at the Australian Open on Tuesday will bring "a little light" to her fellow Ukrainians during a bitter winter under attack by Russia.

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The 31-year-old upset the American Gauff 6-1, 6-2 in Melbourne to set up a semifinal against Belarusian world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Like other Ukrainian players, Svitolina does not shake hands with opponents from Russia and Moscow's ally Belarus.

"For my country, it's great," she said of her sweeping victory over Gauff.

"Know that lots of people have been watching, especially the matches that I had before.

"It's of course very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians, and lots of people get to know tennis in Ukraine, which is great.

"Because right now it's very โ€“ one of the toughest winters for Ukrainian people without electricity and everything.

"So I feel like bring this light, a little light, just positive news to Ukrainian people, to my friends when they are watching my matches, it's a great feeling for me."

Temperatures in Ukraine are freezing with Russia targeting energy infrastructure throughout the nearly four-year war.

A decade older than Gauff, former world No 3 Svitolina was playing her 14th Grand Slam quarterfinal.

She had managed to press on to the semis only three times before, and never in Australia.

"Very, very pleased with the tournament so far," said Svitolina, who is on a 10-match win streak after a title-winning run at Auckland this month.

Making the semifinals 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.

"It means the world to me."

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 a third time, to 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.

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.

It is the first time Svitolina has reached the last four in Melbourne after quarterfinal runs in 2018, 2019 and 2025.

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