Gauff, 21, came into the contest as the World No. 3 and as one of the favourites to win in Melbourne. However, against the experienced World No. 12, she was second best from start to finish, losing 6-1, 6-2 in a contest which barely lasted an hour. In the previous round, she showed all of her qualities and her fight when she overcame Karolina Muchova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. But all of the good things she showed against the Czech player were not on display against Svitolina. When her fate was sealed, Gauff took her anger out on her racket backstage, smashing it against the floor in concerning scenes which were picked up by CCTV cameras.
After the match, Tim Henman said: “We all have bad days in the office. But in the context of being the favourite going into that match, she’s a Grand Slam champion, she’s won the French Open, she’s won the US Open, she’s No. 3 in the world, that was a shocking performance.
“There’s no two ways really about it. Svitolina just took advantage. When you get the top player who can only really kick that first serve in, she was serving at 125kph (78mph), and then making so many mistakes from the back of the court. Your assets of your game have been completely stripped apart in front of our eyes. It was pretty tough to watch.”
Gauff has been struggling with her forehand and her serve, and both issues were on full display. The American had five double faults, hit zero aces and only won 41% of her points on first serve.
Referring to these difficulties, Henman added: “She was playing so badly. This result hasn’t just come overnight as it were. We know she’s been struggling. There’s so much focus and attention and I think we all sympathise with Coco because she’s such a great competitor.
“She’s trying so hard to sort the forehand and the serve out, but to get through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam and have a match like this…that must do damage mentally and there has to be some scar tissue. You can’t just say ‘We’ll forget about that and we’ll move on’.
“To think that she’s such a good player – she hit three winners and had 26 unforced errors in the match. It’s impossible to compete at any level (playing that way). It was hardly surprising to see her frustration at the end.” Laura Robson also criticised Gauff, saying: “You have to question Gauff. She seemed in a real panic. Where was her competitive fire?”
For Svitolina, it’s a third victory against a ranked opponent in Australia. She overcame 23rd seed Diana Shnaider and followed it up with a ruthless straight sets victory over Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva (No. 8) in the preceding round.
But the triumph over Gauff is her biggest victory in Melbourne so far and the biggest shock of the women’s singles at this year’s Australian Open. Svitolina will face World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals on Thursday January 29.