Kamal Ghorui
MELBOURNE: Melbourne Park was on fire on Tuesday. The mercury climbed to 45 degrees, the hottest day at the Australian Open since 2009, and just when it seemed nothing else could scorch the grounds that run alongside the gently flowing Yarra, Elina Svitolina did. Playing big and fearless, she delivered her most dominant performance on a major stage to surge into the last four.The 31-year-old Ukrainian dismantled an out-of-sorts world No. 3 Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-2 to reach her first semi-final here and her fourth at Grand Slams. The ruthless 59-minute display also secured Svitolina a return to the top-10 for the first time since she returned to the court in April 2023 after the birth of her daughter Skai.
“It has always been my dream to get back to the top-10 after my maternity leave. It didn’t happen last year because I had to stop early in September, but in the off-season I told my coach I still wanted to get back to the top-10. It means the world to me,” said Svitolina, unbeaten so far this year, having won the title in Auckland earlier.Gauff, the third seed, managed only two holds from six service games, spraying 26 unforced errors for just three winners, while her opponent was steadier and also came out stinging off the ground. She held six of seven service games and had an unforced error count of 16.The 21-year-old American, a two-time Grand Slam champion, looked lost under the Rod Laver Arena roof, turning to her coaches for answers. “Am I playing wrong?” she asked and even had the tension on her racket adjusted. Her team couldn’t come up with much more than “hit through the middle,” which on the day played into the seasoned Ukrainian’s hands.Gauff then walked off the court and had a go at her racket to work off the tension.“I tried to go somewhere where there were no cameras,” she said. “I kind of have a thing with the broadcast. I feel certain moments they don’t need to broadcast; the same thing happened to Aryna after I played her in the final of the US Open. I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera, because I don’t necessarily like breaking racquets, but I lost 1 and 2.”Svitolina, who notched a 10th victory of the season, will take on world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals on Thursday.“It’s going to be another big challenge. It’s important to focus on my recovery, on my tactics,” she said of Sabalenka, who she has played six times and beaten once. “It’s no secret that she’s a very powerful player. I think she’s been very consistent for the past years with everything that she does on the court. Yeah, for me, I’ll have to be ready for that.”Meanwhile, the extreme heat caused little disruption to the schedule, as organisers played very few matches on the outside courts. They started the first matches at 9 am and had nothing else scheduled again until 6.30 pm.In one of the 9 am starts, Indian-American Vihaan Reddy, 16, bowed out in the second round of the junior boys’ event, falling to sixth seed from Ukraine Nikita Bilozertsev 6-4, 1-6, 4-6 in 2 hours 17 minutes.
