Quick Served: Australian Open Day 10
Svitolina's first Aussie semi, Carlos's "silly tennis" and Tiensanity
A big upset finally rocked the Australian Open after nine days of normalcy. Elina Svitolina beat Coco Gauff in under an hour—and what happened after the match made headlines, too.
Andy and Producer Mike dig into Gauff’s controversial racket smash, plus the exits of Iva Jovic and Learner Tien, Carlos Alcaraz’s bonkers level of play and today’s quarterfinal matchups.
Served’s live chat on Substack is heating up with fans from around the world. It kicks off at the start of play in Rod Laver Arena (11:30 a.m. Melbourne, 7:30 p.m. EST in the U.S.).
Bracket Busters
Elina Svitolina [12] routed Coco Gauff [3] 6-1, 6-2 in 59 minutes, continuing her spotless start to 2026. She’s 10–0 after winning the Auckland title and has only dropped one set this year.
Sometimes stats tell the match story and sometimes they don’t. This time, they did.
Svitolina hit 12 winners to Gauff’s three
Gauff had 26 unforced errors
Svitolina’s first-serve percentage was 71 to Gauff’s 41
Svitolina has retooled her game to be more aggressive since she returned from maternity leave in 2023, improving her movement and pace in the margins. The 32-year-old is into her first Australian Open semifinal and will return to the Top 10 next week.
“[Svitolina] is trending toward being a better player now than before she was a mother.” —Andy on Quick Served
Svitolina will play Aryna Sabalenka [1], who gave Iva Jovic [29] the same dominating treatment in a 6-3, 6-0 defeat.
If you made like Andy, Kim and Blair and picked Svitolina over Gauff in the Bracket Challenge, it was worth 69 points—60 for the match and nine bonus points for the seed differential. Six points separate the top three leaders in the Bracket Challenge, so every point counts!
Gauff Gaffe?
After the match, TV cameras showed Gauff smashing a racket behind the scenes to release her frustration, sparking a conversation about whether players deserve privacy in emotional moments off court, even if they are in public.
Gauff said in her press conference that the only privacy under Rod Laver is in the locker rooms and she looked for the most isolated spot to blow off steam.
“I know I’m emotional. I don’t think it’s a bad thing... I don’t try to do it in front of kids, but I know I need to let out that emotion. Otherwise, I’m just going to be snappy with the people around me, and I don’t want to do that because they don’t deserve it.”
“I feel like certain moments—the same thing happened to Aryna after I played her in the final of the US Open—I feel they don’t need to be broadcast. I tried to go somewhere they wouldn’t maybe broadcast it, but obviously they did. So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had, because I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.” —Coco Gauff in her press conference
Should players have a place where they can have private moments with their team? The locker room isn’t the right place, Andy says. He and Producer Mike parse the factors in today’s episode of Quick Served.
Tiensanity
Credit to Chucker Donald Cook for coining this term in the Served live chat. Learner Tien was one of the stories of the tournament before bowing out yesterday to Alexander Zverev, who is now an absurd 37–1 against left-handers
Zverev had high praise for Tien before and after the match.
“Learner from the baseline was playing unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve played anyone who plays that well from the baseline for a very, very long time. I don’t know what Michael Chang has done with him in the off-season, but without my 20 aces or something like that, I probably would have not won today.” —Alexander Zverev in his on-court interview
Tien has a massive fan base at the Australian Open, so much that it even puzzled him.
“Every year since I’ve been coming here, the crowd support has been amazing. I don’t know why.” —Learner Tien after his win over Daniil Medvedev
This year, fans honored Tien with a quirky tribute—wearing yellow L-plates, a mandatory card that signifies “learning driver” in Australia.
Tiensanity inspired a new segment on Served’s YouTube channel called From the Vault.
Triple Threat
Home teams are still alive in all three doubles draws, always a fun story to watch toward the end of a Slam.
Mixed doubles: defending champs Olivia Gadecki/John Peers are into the semifinals against Taylor Townsend/Nikola Mektic [4]
Men’s doubles: wild cards Jason Kubler/Marc Polmans made the semifinals yesterday and will play either Mate Pavic/Marcelo Arevalo [4] or Jan Zielinski/Luke Johnson
Women’s doubles: wild cards Kimberly Birrell/Talia Gibson play their quarterfinal tonight against Ena Shibahara/Vera Zvonareva
Kubler won the 2023 Australian Open with Rinky Hijikata. The other players are seeking their first Grand Slam title.
Perfect Delivery
Alexander Zverev wanted all the glory after his win over Learner Tien and didn’t appreciate ESPN’s Chris Eubanks asking how Zverev’s coach–brother, Mischa, who played a serve-and-volley style as a pro, would rate his volleys.
“Every single on-court interview is about him. I’m playing. I’m here. He used to play, 10 years ago. He was very good, we get it. He beat Andy Murray here. Wow. Yay.” —Alexander Zverev in his quarterfinal
Eubanks retaliated with another question about Zverev’s team, and the barbs kept going.
Andy is digging the trend toward “no-effs-given” replies from players. Listen to his take in Quick Served.
2
Number of mothers in WTA Top 10 next week for the first time in the Open Era
On Monday, both Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic will be ranked in the Top 10. It’s the first time more than one mom has been ranked that high at the same time.
Mother Lode
Moms on tour has been a hallmark of women’s tennis for the last decade or so. Here are the major milestones.
1973: Margaret Court becomes the first mom to win a Grand Slam
1980: Evonne Goolagong Crawley becomes the first mom to win Wimbledon
2010: Kim Clijsters becomes the first mom to be ranked No. 1
2018: Serena Williams becomes the only mom to reach 4 Grand Slam finals
2023: Two moms play each other in the first round of the US Open
2025: Taylor Townsend becomes the first mom to be ranked No. 1 in doubles
Rewind: Belinda Bencic on Love All
For her debut episode of Love All last year, Kim Clijsters brought on Belinda Bencic, who won the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 title less than a year after becoming a mother. Bencic explained the decision to return to the tour so soon.
🍿 Day 11 Matches
Iga Swiatek [2] vs. Elena Rybakina [5]
Jannik Sinner [2] vs. Ben Shelton [8]
Amanda Anisimova [4] vs. Jessica Pegula [6]
Novak Djokovic [4] vs. Lorenzo Musetti [5]
Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos [3] vs. Orlando Luz/Rafael Matos
Katerina Siniakova/Taylor Townsend [1] vs. Aleksandra Krunic/Anna Danilina
Hsieh Su-Wei/Jelena Ostapenko [4] vs. Gabriela Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani [5]
🗨️ Join us in the Substack chat at the start of the day session!
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Great recap of Svitolina's dominance. The stat line tells the story but what really stood out was how she's retooled her game since coming back from maternity leave. That 71% first serve percentage compared to Gauff's 41% is just brutal. I've watched Svitolina evolve her aggresion over the past year and this version might actualy peak higher than her pre-2023 form.