Svitolina defeated Ruzic and reached the semifinals of the WTA 1000 in Dubai

Ukraine’s top seed Elina Svitolina made it to the semifinals of the WTA 1000 series hard court tournament in Dubai.

In the quarterfinals, the Ukrainian defeated Croatia’s Antonija Ružić in three sets – 6:3, 2:6, 3:6. The match lasted 2 hours and 2 minutes. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the tennis players.

In the semifinals, Svitolina will play against American Coco Gauff, whom she previously defeated in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Australian Open. The head-to-head score between the rivals is 2:2.

In Dubai, Svitolina also defeated Paula Badosa and Belinda Bencic. In the 2026 season, the Ukrainian played 16 matches and suffered only two defeats – against Arina Sobolenko and Anna Kalinska.

This is Svitolina’s 13th WTA 1000 semifinal of her career. It is the fifth time she has reached this stage in Dubai – in 2017 and 2018, the Ukrainian won the title on these courts.

The match for the final will take place on February 20.