What challenges did Coco Gauff face at the Australian Open?
MELBOURNE, Australia — World No. 3 Coco Gauff’s Australian Open journey concluded in just 59 minutes, as Ukrainian 12th seed Elina Svitolina secured a quarterfinal victory in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
Gauff appeared out of sync from the very beginning of the match, struggling to establish her rhythm, serve, or groundstrokes in a 6-1, 6-2 defeat.
This victory marks Svitolina’s second consecutive win against a top-10 player and signifies her return to the top 10 for the first time since 2021.
Here’s an analysis of what went awry for Gauff.
Svitolina found her rhythm quickly, unsettling Gauff
At the quarterfinal stage of a Grand Slam, nerves are always heightened, which was apparent for both Gauff and Svitolina early on. Gauff served first, and the two exchanged three breaks of serve before Svitolina managed to regain her composure and consolidate the break in the fourth game of the set.
During her initial two service games, Gauff recorded three double faults, including one on break point that allowed her opponent to take a 2-1 lead. In fact, Gauff failed to hold her serve throughout the first set, and her frustration was clear as she frequently glanced towards her player’s box in search of guidance.
“I tried my best to stay positive, but I just felt like nothing was working for me at that moment,” Gauff stated in her press conference following the defeat. “It’s a bit frustrating when you’re out there and you feel like your strengths aren’t really functioning.”
Throughout the match, Gauff won only 13 of 32 points on her first serve (41% compared to Svitolina’s 71%) and just 2 of 11 points on her second serve (18% to Svitolina’s 50%). The 31-year-old Ukrainian maintained a steadier hand and mindset.
There were additional distractions; Gauff sent her rackets for restringing, dissatisfied with the tension, but it proved futile as Svitolina surged to a 6-1 lead after merely 29 minutes.
“I felt like, okay, obviously you want to win the first set when you’re in a quarterfinal, but I couldn’t change that, so emotionally, I think it was just frustration, and it showed,” Gauff later remarked about falling behind so quickly.
Gauff’s ground game faltered significantly
When Gauff and her coaching team review the footage of this match, it will become glaringly clear that she committed far too many errors.
Five double faults, 26 unforced errors, and only three winners. In her fourth-round victory over Karolina Muchova just two days earlier—a three-set match—Gauff recorded 18 winners against her 26 errors.
The quarterfinal was a challenging outing for the American, as she struggled to control the play and was unable to hit the sidelines and baseline effectively with her attacking shots.
At one point, her team had to reassess the strategy. “[Svitolina’s] playing great. Literally aim for the middle for now, that’s it,” her coach Gavin MacMillan advised.
In an attempt to bolster Gauff’s confidence in her ground strokes, her coaches instructed her to play ‘safe’ tennis, indicating that something was amiss.
“I was just asking, like, ‘Am I playing wrong?’ Just seeking advice,” Gauff mentioned.
“Obviously she was performing well and I wasn’t. So they were just telling me to target bigger areas, hit through the middle. But, I don’t know, I just felt like hitting through the middle against her wasn’t effective, as she was hitting winners. So, yeah, it was just an awkward day, I think.”
In the final game of the match, during Gauff’s serve, the last three points were uncharacteristic errors: attempted passing shots that missed the target by about a foot each time.
“She played really well,” Gauff acknowledged. “And, unfortunately, typically when others elevate their level, I’m able to elevate mine, and today, I just didn’t manage to do that.”
For Gauff, this marks a second consecutive quarterfinal exit in Melbourne, following her semifinal appearance here in 2024. For Svitolina, it is her first Australian Open semifinal. She will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday for a chance to reach Saturday’s final.
Source: espn.com
