Elina Svitolina needed more than three hours, six match points and every ounce of mental and physical fortitude she had to defeat Coco Gauff in their Dubai semifinal Friday night. She lost a second-set tiebreak 15-13, but ultimately prevailed, winning 6-4, 6-7 (13), 6-4 in 3 hours and 3 minutes to reach her third final in Dubai and her first since 2018.

Dubai: Scores | Draws | Order of play 

“Speechless after that fight,” Svitolina said in her on-court interview. “I was really trying to put myself out there, and I was playing like there is no tomorrow, just trying to put all the effort in.

“Thank you so much for all your support. It’s really, really special to be in the final again here after a few years and to have another chance to lift that beautiful trophy.”

She improves to 3-2 against Gauff at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and will now look to go 3-for-3 in Dubai finals when she faces Jessica Pegula in Saturday’s championship match. It’s not only her first Dubai final in eight years, but it also marks her first WTA 1000 final since 2018. 

Since the format’s introduction in 2009, Svitolina now holds the longest gap between WTA 1000 finals of any player: 7 years, 277 days between Rome 2018 and Dubai 2026.

To set that benchmark, she first had to survive what is almost assuredly an early contender for match of the year.

Gauff struck first, breaking for a 3-1 lead in the opening set, but Svitolina wasted no time breaking back for 3-2. It was the first sign of a pattern that would define three razor-tight sets, as neither player ever truly pulled away.

The first major swing came at 4-all. After Gauff fought off two break points earlier in the game, a net cord gave Svitolina time to set her feet and rip a forehand winner down the line for a third chance. This time, Gauff’s forehand sailed long, giving Svitolina the chance to serve out the set. 

Another forehand miss — a theme that would haunt Gauff — sealed it for Svitolina.

The second set was a topsy-turvy affair. Svitolina broke for 1-0, Gauff broke back for 2-2 and the two traded a couple more breaks before settling into a string of holds that made a second-set tiebreak inevitable.

What followed was the longest tiebreak on the WTA Tour in 2026, featuring:

28 total points
Seven lead changes
Five set points for Gauff (seven total in the set, including two at 6-5 on return)
Four match points for Svitolina

In the end, Gauff’s brilliance at the net proved the separator, highlighted by her remarkable defense up close to move ahead 9-8 and the volley that earned her seventh set point at 14-13, which she finally converted to force a decider.

Unfortunately for Gauff, the third set played out much like the first. She broke for 1-0, only for Svitolina to break back at love for 1-1. They traded holds until the pivotal game at 4-all, a seven-deuce marathon with both players clawing for the chance to take a 5-4 lead.

It’s a game Gauff will likely rue for some time. She held two break points that would have given her that opportunity, but Svitolina refused to yield. Eventually, Gauff’s forehand drifted wide, handing Svitolina a 5-4 lead.

The Ukrainian broke once more, just as she did in the opener, and this time it sealed the win. When Gauff’s final forehand found the net, Svitolina dropped her racquet, overcome with emotion.

She channeled that passion into a message. “Fight like Ukraine,” she wrote on the camera lens to celebrate.

If she is to defeat Pegula — whom she is 3-5 against at the WTA level — for the title Saturday, and with limited recovery time, it will take another fight from the 31-year-old.

“We’ll do everything possible,” Svitolina said in her post-match press conference. “Physios are here trying to help me speed up the recovery. Of course, it’s not going to be easy. It’s a final. It’s important to give your everything. 

“I will do my very best to recover and really be there for this big final. For me, it’s important just to keep fighting and trying to do everything that I can. We’ll see how it goes.”

For Gauff, her Dubai run ends in excruciating fashion. She lost five points in the final game, four on forehand errors, bringing her total to 46 forehand unforced errors for the match.

But she also struck 32 forehand winners and 48 winners overall. Combined with her confident play at the net and the resolve to nearly come back from match point down for the second match in a row, she chose to leave Dubai in good spirits.

“It’s tough to be on the losing end of a match like this, but there’s a lot of positives to take from it,” Gauff told reporters. “Elina played great, I thought I played great and it came down to the wire. I’ll definitely learn from this match in the future.

“I started off the week just trying to win one match here, and so I’m glad to have made it to the semis and I was really close to making it to the final. Entering a tournament not in my best form and still making the semis means a lot, so hopefully I can take this momentum into Indian Wells and Miami.”