Tuesday, January 27, 2026

AO26 - The Re-emergence of Elina

Elina Svitolina's "To-Do List" has grown both on and off court in recent years, but she's found time to belatedly check off an additional item (or two) in Melbourne.












=AO NOTES=
...in Day 10's first women's QF, played seven or eight hours before the second and last, top seed Aryna Sabalenka made fairly quick work of #29 Iva Jovic in the 18-year old's maiden slam quarter appearance, but the world #1 was quick to praise her young foe afterward for the tough match she provided despite the lopsided 6-3/6-0 final score.

Sabalenka's sentiments, in spite of her own high level of play, can be lined up with several occurrences in the match, such as Jovic saving a BP to hold for 3-1 in the 1st, and then three more in game 6 to hold for 4-2. When Sabalenka served for the set at 5-3, Jovic put up a battle and held three BP before Sabalenka finally put away the set on her own third SP.

Sabalenka immediately seized control in the 2nd, breaking to open the set and running her lead to 5-0. Serving for the set in game six, Sabalenka (naturally) fell behind 15/40 before finally serving her way out of the situation, punctuating her victory with a MP ace.



Thus, Sabalenka remains undefeated in 2026 at 10-0, reaching her sixth straight slam SF (12 of her last 13), fourth in a row at the AO and eighth consecutive in a hard court major. She's reached the final at the last six slams played on hard courts.

Meanwhile, Jovic's career run, which included her first Top 10 win (over Jasmine Paolini), will make her Top 20 debut following the AO.



...later, in the day's other women's QF, well, here's Coco Gauff's reaction afterward, so IYKYK.



Elina Svitolina has seemingly always been "on the cusp," from the heart of her career in the late 2010s -- from 2016-19 she had 6 #1 wins, 18 over Top 5 opponents, 29 vs. the Top 10 overall and a pair of slam SF appearances (both in '19) -- through today, with a marriage, maternity break, assuming of the role of international spokesperson for her war-torn Ukrainian nation and, yes, even a more recent major SF run ('23 Wimbledon) all having occurred since her original career push.

Tonight in Melbourne, the 31-year old #12 seed checked off one of the "To-Do List" items from years ago that she never managed to get around to, reaching the AO semifinals. She did it by the almost obscene scoreline of 6-1/6-2 over #3 Gauff, who more than earned her blowing-off-steam post-match racket destruction after a match in which she committed five DF, won just 41% of her first serve points and committed 26 unforced errors (vs. just three winners).

Svitolina, always one to be able to feed an underperforming opponent a string of additional shots that only deepen their self-destruction, converted six of her seven BP chances as she picked up her second straight Top 10 win (after Mirra Andreeva in the 4th Rd.) under the lights on Laver at this AO.

This is Svitolina's 45th career Top 10 victory, her biggest since upsetting then-#1 Iga Swiatek in the '23 Wimbledon QF, and her first win over Gauff since 2021 (in the AO 2nd Rd.). Their head-to-head series is now tied at 2-2.

Svitolina had previously been 0-3 in QF in Melbourne, twice losing to the eventual champion.



With her fourth career major SF under her belt (she's still looking to become the first Ukrainian to reach a slam singles final), Svitolina remains undefeated in '26 (10-0) and has assured her Top 10 return after the tournament.



Her match-up with Sabalenka will feature players who are a combined 20-0 this season. The world #1 leads the series 5-1, including being 2-0 on hard court. Svitolina's only win came on clay in Strasbourg in 2020.







...HOPEFULLY NOT A HARBINGER, considering how things were here by the time 2001 ended... on Day 10:




...ALEX RETURNS HOME (guess what -- people were excited) on Day 10:










=WOMEN'S SINGLES QF=
#1 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR def. #29 Iva Jovic/USA
#12 Elina Svitolina/UKR def. #3 Coco Gauff/USA
#6 Jessie Pegula/USA vs. #4 Amanda Anisimova/USA
#5 Elena Rybakina/KAZ vs. #2 Iga Swiatek/POL

=WOMEN'S DOUBLES QF=
#1 Siniakova/Townsend (CZE/USA) vs. #7 Danilina/Krunic (KAZ/SRB)
#3 Hsieh/Ostapenko (TPE/LAT) vs. #5 Dabrowski/Stefani (CAN/BRA)
Hozumi/Wu (JPN/TPE) vs. #4 Mertens/Zhang (BEL/CHN)
(PR) Shibahara/Zvonareva (JPN/RUS) vs. (WC) Birrell/Gibson (AUS/AUS)

=MIXED DOUBLES SF=
(WC) Gadecki/Peers (AUS/AUS) vs. #4 Townsend/Mektic (USA/CRO)
(PR) Mladenovic/Guinard (FRA/FRA) vs. #2 Stefani/Arevalo (BRA/ELS)

=GIRLS' SINGLES ROUND OF 16=
#1 Alena Kovackova/CZE vs. #13 Mariia Makarova/RUS
Antonina Sushkova/UKR vs. #8 Thea Frodin/USA
Ekaterina Tupitsyna/RUS vs. Sofiia Bielinska/UKR
Denisa Zoldakova/CZE vs. #6 Xinran Sun/CHN
#5 Zhang Ruien/CHN vs. #10 Kanon Sawashiro/JPN
#14 Nadia Lagaev/CAN vs. #3 Ksenia Efremova/FRA
Anna Pushkareva/RUS vs. #11 Shao Yushan/CHN
Qu Yihan/CHN vs. Rada Zolotareva/RUS




















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*WOMEN'S SLAM WINNERS, post-Barty ret.*
9/15 = won by Swiatek/Sabalenka
11/15 = won by Swiatek/Sabalenka/Gauff
12/15 = won by Swiatek/Sabalenka/Rybakina/Gauff
13/15 = won by Swiatek/Sabalenka/Gauff or a Czech

**RECENT AO "LADY OF THE EVENING" WINNERS**
2016 "The Dasha Show" (Gavrilova)
2017 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2018 Elise Mertens, BEL
2019 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (3:12am finish)
2020 Garbine Muguruza, ESP
2021 Simona Halep, ROU
2022 Ash Barty, AUS
2023 Victoria Azarenka, BLR (2:17am finish)
2024 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR and Linda Noskova, CZE
2025 Aryna Sabalenka/BLR & Jelena Dokic (Laver dancing)
2026 Elina Svitolina, UKR






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@anntelnaes.bsky.social on SUBSTACK: open.substack.com/pub/anntelna...

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) January 26, 2026 at 7:29 AM


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TOP QUALIFIER: Guiomar Maristany/ESP
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): #6 Jessie Pegula/USA (lost 5 games in 1r/2r)
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q2 - Guiomar Maristany/ESP def. Tatiana Prozorova/RUS 6-2/2-6/7-6(10-7) - saved four MP (at 6-5 in the 3rd), reached maiden slam MD
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - Elsa Jacquemot/FRA def. #20 Marta Kostyuk/UKR 6-7(4)/7-6(4)/7-6(10-7) - 3:31; first three-TB women's match at AO; Jacquemot saves MP in 2nd set, wins 10-7 MTB in 3rd for first Top 20 win
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: (WC) Talia Gibson/AUS (def. Anna Blinkova/RUS)
FIRST SEED OUT: #26 Dayana Yastremska, UKR (1r- lost to Gabriela Ruse/ROU)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Nikola Bartunkova/CZE (1st slam MD), Linda Klimovicova/POL (1st), Petra Marcinko/CRO (1st), Taylah Preston/AUS (3rd), Oksana Selekhmeteva/RUS (5th)
PROTECTED RANKING BEST: Karolina Pliskova/CZE (3rd Rd.)
LUCKY LOSER BEST: 0-1 in 1r
UPSET QUEENS: The Crush of Czechs
REVELATION LADIES: Australia (6 in 2r most since 1992)
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Russia (4-5 1st Rd.; only 9 in MD after AO-best 9 to 2r in '25; has lost 7 notable players to other nations since '23; lost 2 Top 20 seeds)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Maddison Inglis/AUS (4r)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Talia Gibson/AUS, Priscilla Hon/AUS and Taylah Preston/AUS (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Maddison Inglis (4th Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: Nominee: Jovic, Anisimova, Pegula, Rybakina, Swiatek
IT (Beloved Turk): Zeynep Sonmez/TUR
COMEBACK PLAYER: Nominees: S.Hunter, Zvonareva, Mladenovic, Pliskova, de Groot?
CRASH & BURN: #26 Dayana Yastremska/UKR and #20 Marta Kostyuk/UKR (first two seeds out lose in back-to-back ANZ Arena matches on Day 1
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Maddison Inglis/AUS (saved 2 MP vs. Leyre Gormaz Romero in 3-hr. Q1 match, then won back-to-back 3-hr. matches in 1r/2r en route to maiden slam Round of 16)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: Nominees: Venus Williams/USA (at 45 years and 7 months, breaks 2015 record of Kimiko Date as the oldest woman in an AO singles MD match); (wd)
LADY OF THE EVENING: Elina Svitolina/UKR
AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE ARTS AWARD: ["Show Pony Fashion Sense"] Naomi Osaka's jellyfish-inspired, "My Fair Lady" nighttime intro outfit
DOUBLES STAR: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x






All for now. More soon.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 8:05 AM 

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