Alcaraz, Zverev, Sabalenka and Svitolina
(Photo(s): The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, The Australian)
Elina Svitolina stole the headlines last night when she played one of the best matches of her career to blow away an out-of-sorts Coco Gauff for the loss of three games to move into her first Australian Open semifinal.
The 31-year-old hardly put a foot wrong as she cruised past the world No.3 6-1 6-2 to advance to a fourth Grand Slam semifinal of her career, and her second since returning to the tour in 2023 after maternity leave. The popular Ukrainian will next face Aryna Sabalenka, who had earlier beaten young American Iva Jovic.
Svitolina has been outstanding so far this season, winning all of the 10 matches she has played and without dropping a single set at Melbourne Park during a run that has seen her record back-to-back top 10 wins.
After cutting her 2025 season short to mentally and physically refresh, her unbeaten stretch during January means she will be back in the WTA top 10 next week for the first time since 2021.
“Happy to be in the semis finally after so many years here, so many tries,” said the No.12 seed, who had lost three AO quarterfinals before Tuesday’s breakthrough.
“I feel like for me it's all about trying to find new ways to win now. There are so many young players. There's so many aggressive players who, if you're not at your best, they are just taking the match from you. So you have to evolve your game. You have to be better.”
She will take that mindset into her semifinal on Thursday when she faces Sabalenka, who crushed Jovic 6-3 6-0 to continue her dominance at Melbourne Park.
The world No.1 and two-time former champion is another player yet to drop a set in the tournament, and has now won 25 of her past 26 matches at the opening major of the season.
While Sabalenka is into her fourth successive AO semifinal, Jovic can be proud of her progress during January.
The 18-year-old from California reached the semifinals in Auckland and final in Hobart and will debut in the world’s top 20 on Monday.
Men’s world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz made his own personal breakthrough on Day 10 when he booked a Melbourne semifinal spot for the first time in his career, ending the run of home favourite Alex de Minaur 7-5 6-2 6-1.
Having lost in the quarterfinals for the past two years, the Spaniard is now just two wins away from becoming, at 22, the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam by collecting all four majors at least once.
After a competitive first set – and a quite brilliant final point of the opener – De Minaur’s challenge faded quickly as the man from Murcia moved into a 10th Grand Slam semifinal.
It will be German world No.3 Alexander Zverev who will present the next challenge for Alcaraz on Friday after the three-time Grand Slam runner-up eventually wore down another youngster from California, Learner Tien, in four sets.
Zverev, last year’s finalist in Melbourne, used his experience against the 20-year-old left-hander as the match wore on to emerge a 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 7-6(3) winner.
“I feel like I'm playing well,” said Zverev who was plagued with a variety of injuries during 2025. “I'm happy on the court because I am playing pain-free and I'm playing a good level.”
Like Jovic, Tien will also move to a career-high ranking on Monday when he rises to No.24.
Alcaraz notably beat Jannik Sinner in the U.S. Open final last September to capture his sixth major title and second at the American tournament. He played Sinner in three major finals last year (all but the Australian Open) and won the French Open and U.S. Open titles.
The Spaniard is two wins away from making incredible tennis history. It sounds like he has the confidence in himself to do it, as long as he keeps playing with the dominance he’s shown thus far. We’ll see come Sunday if Alcaraz etches his name in the tennis history books again.
