MELBOURNE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Coco Gauff's bid for a third Grand Slam title went up in smoke at the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-2 defeat by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina on Tuesday, after the third seed endured a nightmare on serve.
The result meant 12th seed Svitolina marched into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time in her career, after three previous quarter-final finishes, keeping alive the 31-year-old's hopes of a maiden major title.
Svitolina will also return to the top 10 in the world when the updated rankings are released next Monday, a reward for her consistency after giving birth to her daughter with fellow tennis player Gael Monfils in late 2022.
"I'm very pleased with the tournament so far, it has always been my dream to come back here after maternity leave. It was my dream to come back into the top 10," Svitolina said.
"Unfortunately it didn't happen last year, I stopped after September and then when we were training and during off-season I told my coach 'I want to come back into top 10' so this was my goal for this year."
Gauff's service woes came to the fore early in the clash as she made five double faults and was broken four times, allowing the aggressive Svitolina to take full advantage and grab the opening set in double-quick time.
Desperate to arrest her slide, the American sent a bunch of rackets to be re-strung for cooler conditions under the roof on Rod Laver Arena after organisers earlier invoked their extreme heat policy on a scorching afternoon.
Svitolina raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Gauff was able to get on board with a couple of holds, but there was no stopping the Ukrainian, who eased to victory and set up a clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka.
"It means the world to me," Svitolina said.
"I'll try to push myself, try to give myself this motivation to continue. It's been a good trip."
It was a day to forget for the frustrated Gauff, as visuals later emerged of the American smashing a racket somewhere inside the venue, in what she would have thought was a private moment.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne: Editing by Neil Fullick and Kate Mayberry)
