Elina Svitolina produced a vintage display on Tuesday to defeat Coco Gauff at the Australian Open.
Svitolina, the 12th seed, defeated an out-of-sorts Gauff 6-1, 6-2 to book her place in the semi-finals, where she will face the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka.
It may have taken 13 attempts, but Svitolina has reached the Australian Open last four, making her the second-oldest player in the Open Era to achieve the feat, behind Mirjana Lucic.
After the contest, Svitolina discussed the match and reflected on the support she has received from Ukrainian tennis fans.
Elina Svitolina reacts to the support of Ukrainian tennis fans
During her post-match press conference, Svitolina said: “Just quickly, because there have been many messages. Just quickly, I saw there’s lots of them.
“Of course, for my country, it’s great. I know that lots of people been watching, especially the matches that I had before.
“It’s, of course, very, for me, very close to my heart to see a lot of support from Ukrainians, and lots of people, also, get to know tennis in Ukraine, which is great, because of course, right now it’s very — it was, I think, one of the toughest winters for Ukrainian people and without electricity and everything.
“So I feel like bring this light, a little light, you know, even just positive news to Ukrainian people, to my friends when they are watching my matches, yeah, of course, it’s great feeling for me.”
Svitolina faces world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the next round. Sabalenka, who defeated Iva Jovic earlier on Tuesday, has a 5-1 record against Svitolina.
The Ukrainian star has failed to defeat Sabalenka since the 2020 Strasbourg Open. They last contested a match at the 2025 Madrid Masters; which Sabalenka won 6-3, 7-5.
Svitolina reacts to her triumph on social media
In a post on X [formerly Twitter], the Ukrainian reacted to her victory over Gauff, and her return to the WTA top 10.
She said: “Semi final, Australian Open. Back to top 10.”
Svitolina has gained 349 WTA points at the Australian Open so far, and could gain another 871 points if she wins the tournament.
If Svitolina wins her first major title in Australia, she will rise to world number eight.
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