Elina Svitolina has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career. She will face Aryna Sabalenka in the final four and has expressed her thoughts about competing against the World No. 1. However, the Ukrainian refused to disclose her strategies or plans for the match.
Svitolina and Sabalenka have met six times on the WTA Tour, with the four-time Grand Slam champion winning five of those encounters. Their most recent match was in the semifinals of the 2025 Madrid Open, where Sabalenka emerged victorious with a score of 6-3, 7-5.
Elina Svitolina Makes Her Feelings Known About Facing Aryna Sabalenka at the 2026 Australian Open SF
Svitolina is seeded 12th at the 2026 Australian Open, and she advanced to the semifinals by defeating Cristina Bucșa, Linda Klimovičová, 23rd seed Diana Shnaider, eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, and third seed Coco Gauff.
After her quarterfinal victory, during the post-match press conference, Svitolina was asked about her game plan against Sabalenka. In response, she stated that she would not reveal her strategies but mentioned that she would discuss some “tactical” aspects with her coach that she needs to work on during practice ahead of the match.
“Well, not sure I’m going to tell you now exactly what I’m going to do. But tomorrow is a day when I will take time to talk to my coach about a few tactical things that I have to work on on the practice court,” Svitolina said.
The former World No. 3 also mentioned that it is important for her to recover fully before the semifinal match, acknowledging that facing the World No. 1 will be a “big challenge.”
“I also have a day to recover physically. Even though today the match was under one hour, it still takes quite a bit from your body. So for me, those two things will be the priority, and yeah, it’s a big challenge, of course, to play number one in the world,” she continued.
Svitolina praised Sabalenka as a “powerful player,” noting that the Belarusian is playing “great tennis.” She stated that Sabalenka’s strength lies in her “power” across all aspects of her game.
“I mean, it’s no secret that she’s a very powerful player. I watched a little bit of her match today; she was playing great tennis, and I think the power in all aspects of her game is her strength. She’s been very consistent for the past years with everything that she does on the court,” she said.
To secure victory against Sabalenka, Svitolina stated that she will need to find “little holes” and opportunities during the match and capitalize on them.
“For me, I’ll have to be ready for that, try to find ways and the little holes, the little opportunities in her game. Of course, when you play the top players, you have to find the small opportunities and then be ready to take them,” Svitolina added.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka is the top seed at the 2026 Australian Open, and she secured her place in the semifinals by defeating wild card Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan, Anastasia Potapova, 17th seed Victoria Mboko, and 29th seed Iva Jović.
