Arina Sabalenka ended her teenage challenge with an emphatic victory over Iva Jovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, with temperatures above 40 degrees and the tournament’s Heat Stress Index reaching the highest standard of 5.0.
The world number one, who defeated 19-year-old Victoria Mboko in the fourth round, defeated 18-year-old American Jovic 6-3, 6-0, just three games behind.
Elina Svitolina defeated Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-2 to reach her first semi-final in Melbourne, where she will face Sabalenka.
Jović was very competitive in points, but had a number of bad results in the final minutes of the match.
Still, it was a milestone event for Jovic, who just celebrated his birthday last month, and will crack the top 20 for the first time next month.
“These teenagers have been testing me the last few rounds,” Sabalenka said. She has reached at least the semifinals in 12 of the past 13 Grand Slam tournaments she has played.
“She’s a great player. It was a tough match. Don’t look at the score. It wasn’t easy at all. I’m very happy with the win. It was a tough fight.”
Efficiency was crucial for Sabalenka, who has yet to drop a set, as Melbourne is expected to have its hottest day in 17 years, with temperatures expected to reach around 45 degrees.
Sabalenka applies ice pack to face on Melbourne’s hottest day in 17 years
Things could have been more complicated had she not won the first set by saving three break points in a long ninth game and grabbing a third set point.
After that, she would not lose another match, and the roof of Rod Laver Arena closed while Sabalenka gave her post-fight interview, and just before 1:30 p.m., the heat stress standard for the tournament reached the cutoff mark of 5.
“At the end of the game it was really hot outside,” the 27-year-old said. “They closed the roof about half way, so it was nice to have a lot of shade in the back.”
Sabalenka added with a smile: “As women, we are stronger than men, so I guess we had to close the roof for them so they wouldn’t suffer.
“Going into this game, we knew they weren’t going to let us play in extreme heat. If the heat got to five, they’d definitely shut the roof down, so we knew they were protecting us and our health. We’ll be fine. I’m glad we made it.”
Organizers reworked their schedule in anticipation of that, postponing the start of the wheelchair draw until Wednesday, with junior games starting at 9 a.m.
Subsequent junior games were scheduled for before 6:30 p.m., with the full day of games ending before the strictest heat rules came into effect, and games on open courts were to be postponed.
The heat stress scale takes into account air temperature, radiant heat, humidity, and wind speed to determine when conditions are safe for players.
Svitolina crushes Gauff within an hour
Coco Gauff was hit by Elina Svitolina in the 59th minute.
With her husband Gael Monfils supporting her from the sidelines, Svitolina put in a strong performance with consistent tennis, but Gauff gave her more than a helping hand. The total of 26 unforced errors and 3 winners tells the story.
The American player has struggled, particularly with his serve, since winning his second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last year, and was filmed repeatedly slamming his racket backstage after a loss.
With this result, 12th seed Svitolina reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career and for the fourth time in total. It will also be her second time back on tour since the birth of her daughter Skye in 2022, with the former world No. 3 having an impressive run at Wimbledon the following year.
Gauff’s serving woes came to light early in the contest, as she committed five double faults and was broken four times, giving the aggressive Svitolina maximum advantage and taking the first set in double quick time.
On a blistering afternoon, desperate to stop the slide after organizers activated a heatwave policy in advance, American players sent a bunch of racquets to be re-strung for cooler conditions under Rod Laver Arena’s roof.
Svitolina took a 3-0 lead in the second set before Gauff got better with a few holds but was unable to stop the Ukrainian and won easily.
“This means the world to me,” said Svitolina, who had a 10-0 record in 2026. “Of course I push myself and try to motivate myself to keep going. I’m very happy with this performance in Australia.”
“Overall it was a good trip for me and I’m really happy to have made it to the semi-finals!
“I’m very, very happy with the tournaments so far. Of course it was my dream to come back after maternity leave and be in the top 10 again. That was always my goal and now I’ve achieved it.”
“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen last year, but it’s happening now.
Henman: Shocking play for Gauff – ‘Hard to watch’
gauff
Six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Tim Henman told TNT Sports:
“Everybody’s having a bad day at the office, but in the context of the favorite going into the match, Gauff is a Grand Slam champion, she’s won the French Open, she’s won the U.S. Open, she’s No. 3 in the world, so it was a shocking performance.
“There is no choice in this, Svitolina just took advantage of it.
“But when you actually get a top player who can only kick the first serve, she was serving at speeds of 125 km/h and then making so many mistakes from the back of the court. The assets of her game were completely stripped away before our eyes.”
“That was pretty tough to watch.”
Murray: ‘Gauff’s performance was disappointing’
Doubles specialist Jamie Murray tells TNT Sports:
“Svitolina had a very solid match and picked up where she left off against Andreeva.
“Coco Gauff’s performance was very disappointing. She rightly slammed the ball into her racket in the tunnel at the end of the match.
“The more you think technically on the court, the harder your body becomes and the better your strokes and footwork become.”
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