Coco Gauff smashes racket after Australian Open defeat by Elina Svitolina

“I feel like certain moments . . . the same thing happened to Aryna [Sabalenka] after I played her in final of US Open. I feel like they don’t need to broadcast. I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera, because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets, but I lost [6-]1 and [6-]2.

“I broke one racket [at the] French Open and I said I would never do it again on court, because I don’t feel like that’s a good representation. But yeah, I tried to go somewhere where they wouldn’t broadcast it, but obviously they did. So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had, because I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.

“I don’t want to lash out on my team. They’re good people. They don’t deserve that, and I know I’m emotional. So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I don’t try to do it on court in front of kids but I do know I need to let out that emotion. Otherwise, I’m just going to be snappy with the people around me. They did their best. I did mine. [I] just need to let the frustration out.”

Having won two of the past nine grand-slam events Gauff, who is usually calm and composed, came into this match as the favourite, but barely half an hour in she turned to her box and said: “She’s outdoing me in everything. Am I playing the wrong way?”

With 59 minutes on the clock Svitolina, 31, had claimed a victory which secured her a spot in the last four, where the Ukrainian No12 seed will play the Belarusian world No1 Sabalenka.

Svitolina, who gave birth to a daughter, Skai, in October 2022, has now won ten consecutive matches in 2026 after claiming the WTA 250 title in Auckland and is into her fourth grand-slam semi-final.

The former world No3 — who has now reached at least one quarter-final in each of the past eight full seasons in which she has competed — destroyed Gauff’s second serve, winning 82 per cent of those points. Svitolina will re-enter the top ten, only 39 months after giving birth.

Gauff is one of the best returners on the WTA Tour, but managed to win only 13 points against Svitolina’s first serve. There were seven racket smashes into the floor after defeat and she hit only three winners during the one-sided match.

The opening three games went against the serve before Svitolina held to lead 3-1. From there the Ukrainian broke twice more to claim the set 6-1 inside half an hour. This was a match-up where the first set felt crucial: Svitolina’s record when winning the first set is now 31-2. Gauff has won her past 41 grand-slam matches when taking the opening set. So when Svitolina claimed it 6-1, this match was heading in only one direction.

At 3-0 down in the second set, Gauff asked her box: “Am I playing the wrong way or what?” The answer was at the other end of the court: Svitolina hit 12 winners to Gauff’s three; and crucially only 16 unforced errors to Gauff’s 26.

This was Svitolina’s 48th grand-slam appearance, compared with Gauff’s 26th, and the gulf in experience was clear to see once the match began to slide Svitolina’s way. Gauff unravelled quickly; Svitolina was able to stay composed. She even mimicked smoking a cigarette while waiting during a change of ends.

Svitolina, who is married to the former world No6 Gaël Monfils, has been strong in her stance that Russian and Belarusian athletes should compete under neutral flags, as they have done at the Olympics. She does not “blame” athletes from the two nations but in 2022 made it her “mission” to get the WTA, ATP and ITF to ban athletes from those countries who supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Silence is betrayal,” she said. As has become custom now in tennis, there was no handshake between her and her Russian opponent Mirra Andreeva after their fourth-round match.

This was a groundbreaking win for Svitolina. Before this match she had lost all three of her quarter-finals here, in 2018 (beaten by Elise Mertens), 2019 (Naomi Osaka) and 2025 (Madison Keys). She has reached three grand-slam semi-finals but on each occasion has been beaten by the eventual champion (at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2023 and at the US Open in 2019).

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