Australian Open 2026: Tennis world in disbelief after eight-time grand slam winners wiped out in hours

The Australian Open women’s draw has been flipped on its head in the space of just 18 hours, with World No.2 Iga Swiatek joining No.3 Coco Gauff in crashing out in the quarter-finals. Gauff was bundled out in under an hour on Tuesday night, losing 1-6 2-6 to 12th seed Elina Svitolina.

And less than 24 hours later, Swiatek suffered a stunning straight-sets loss of her own. The six-time grand slam champion went down 5-7 1-6 to former Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina in just an hour and 35 minutes.

Gauff is a two-time grand slam champion (2023 US Open and 2025 French Open), meaning eight grand slams worth of talent was wiped out of the Australian Open in under three hours of match play. Swiatek has won four French Open crowns, as well as one each at Wimbledon and the US Open.

The victories for Svitolina and Rybakina meant the winners of the 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 French Opens, 2022 and 2023 US Opens, and 2025 Wimbledon titles were all sent packing.

Polish star Swiatek has never made it past the semi-finals in Australia, and only needs to win the Australian Open to complete a career grand slam. However she won’t get the chance for another 12 months after an error-plagued performance on Wednesday.

Fifth-seeded Rybakina repeated against Swiatek after also beating the World No.2 at last year’s WTA Finals. It takes their career head-to-head to six wins apiece.

“We know each other pretty well and I was just trying to stay aggressive,” said the 26-year-old Kazakh. “I feel like in the first set for both of us, the first serve was not really working.

“So we were trying to step in on the second serve, put pressure on each other, and I think in the second I just started to play more free, served better. I’m just really happy with the win.”

Tennis world stunned by Australian Open upsets

Rybakina is bidding to go one better than her career-best result in Australia when she was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in 2023. Sabalenka marched into the semi-finals with a comprehensive win over 18-year-old Iva Jovic on Tuesday, and will face Svitolina for a place in the final once more.

Rybakina takes on Jessica Pegula in the other semi-final after the American won her quarter-final against compatriot Amanda Anisimova 6-2 7-6 (7/1). Pegula breezed through the opening set but had to come back from 5-3 down to take the second to a tiebreak. The sixth seed dropped just one point in the tiebreak though to march into the last-four at Melbourne Park for the first time.

Tennis fans were blown away by the ease at which Svitolina and Rybakina dispatched the second and third best players in women’s tennis. One person wrote: “Really thought one of Iga and Coco would at least make the semis but they both got outplayed BAD.” Another commented: “Iga and Coco losing in straight sets was not on my bingo card.”