It was an incredibly frustrating day for Coco Gauff on the court Tuesday. Gauff experienced uncharacteristic struggles with her serve, notching five double faults in a quarterfinals loss to Elina Svitolina at the 2026 Australian Open.
Gauff never really got going against Svitolina. All five of Gauff’s double faults came during the first set Tuesday, leading to Gauff taking just one game in the set and losing 6-1. While Gauff has shown the ability to rally when put into tough positions, she couldn’t make that happen Tuesday. Svitolina dispatched Gauff 6-2 to win the match in straight sets.
The entire match lasted just 59 minutes, making it the shortest women’s singles quarterfinal match at the Australian Open in six years. With the win, Svitolina advances to the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in her career. She’ll take on women’s No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday.
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As for Gauff, well, she wasn’t too happy about her performance Tuesday. After the match, cameras caught Gauff smashing her racket in frustration in the tunnel at Rod Laver Arena.
Gauff intentionally tried to smash the racket away from cameras, and said she didn’t think the moment needed to be shown on the broadcast.
The 21-year-old explained her actions after the match, saying she didn’t want to have an outburst on the court in front of fans and didn’t want to take the loss out on her team.
The loss marks the second straight year in which Gauff was eliminated in the quarterfinals. She’s only advanced past the round one time at the Australian Open, when she made it to the semifinals in 2024. Gauff fell to Sabalenka that year, and has never won the Australian Open.
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Carlos Alcaraz picks up easy win in quarterfinals
Compared to Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz had a much easier experience Tuesday. The men’s No. 1 cruised to a win in the quarterfinals, taking down Alex de Minaur in straight sets (7-5, 6-2, 6-1) to advance to the semifinals.
It was a pretty clean match for Alcaraz, who notched five aces in the win.
Alcaraz also had a somewhat viral moment during his match. At one point, de Minaur was called for a time violation, but Alcaraz stepped in to take the blame, saying he “wasn’t ready” for de Minaur’s serve. The violation was rescinded after Alcaraz explained the situation.
For all of Alcaraz’s success in the sport, the Australian Open has proved to be his most elusive major. Tuesday marked the first time ever that Alcaraz advanced to the semifinals at the event. It’s the only tennis major he’s never won.
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If Alcaraz wants to break that streak, he’ll have to move past Alexander Zverev, who Alcaraz will face Thursday.