Elina Svitolina is into the Australian Open semi-finals after crushing Coco Gauff 6-1 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
The Ukrainian was flawless throughout most of the contest as she took advantage of an erratic and panicky Gauff.
As for Gauff, the American struggled to adapt to conditions and never really found her range from the baseline.
Next up for Svitolina will be two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka as she bids for a first Australian Open final.
From the start, Svitolina was proactive and aggressive as she broke in the opening game with the Rod Laver Arena roof closed.
There was an immediate response from Gauff though as Svitolina had to battle hard to hold serve but Gauff found the opening and forced a forehand error from Svitolina to break back.
That was the only positive for Gauff in what was an extraordinarily erratic match from the American.
After restoring the break, Svitolina saw there was vulnerability in Gauff’s game and the Ukrainian surged to a double break lead with the two-time Grand Slam champion struggling to win points on serve.
In response to the poor start, Gauff sent a couple of rackets to the stringers which showed she was unprepared for the slower conditions.
Svitolina wasn’t though as she raced to the opening set and then took a 3-0 lead in the second set.
There was close to tears from Gauff who was panicking and stressed on, looking at her team for answers.
Eventually some answers were provided as Gauff saved break point to hold and would win another service game in the sixth game.
However, Svitolina comfortably broke again as Gauff seemingly threw in the towel with the Ukrainian securing her place in the semi-finals.
After the match Svitolina has admitted she is already achieved her goal for the year as she will be back in the world’s top ten, “I am very pleased with the tournament so far and it was my dream to get back into the top 10 after maternity leave,” the Ukrainian was quoted by the BBC Sport website as saying in her on-court interview.
“It didn’t happen last year, but in the off-season, I told my coach I still wanted to get back to the top 10. That was my goal this year. It means the world to me. I try to push myself and motivate myself to continue. Overall, it has been a good trip and I am really happy to go through to the semi-final.”
It was a 59 minute demolition job from Svitolina who will now face world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the last four on Thursday.
