Elina Svitolina “fights like Ukraine,” wins three-hour Dubai tussle vs. Coco Gauff

“Fight like Ukraine” was how Elina Svitolina signed the camera after a three-hour, three-minute battle with Coco Gauff, and fight she did to ultimately emerge victorious, 6-4, 6-7 (13), 6-4, and reach the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final.

“It’s very special to see so many flags,” Svitolina said on court after the match. “I’m fighting all the time, and when I’m down and I feel all those emotions, I try to keep in my mind that there are really difficult times that Ukraine is going through. I’m really lucky to be here performing and representing Ukraine, so I try to do it in a decent way.”

A two-time champion in Dubai, Svitolina shook off losing four match points in the second-set tiebreaker to turn the tables on Gauff, whom she beat last month at the Australian Open. The critical point came in the penultimate game when the former world No. 3 won a marathon to close in on victory, going on to score her sixth break of the match to edge over the finish line in just over three hours.

“Coco is such a big fighter,” praised Svitolina, who will next face Gauff’s countrywoman Jessica Pegula in the final “I was expecting that she would come back in the match. She’s won so many big finals, big tournaments. For sure, I had to keep fighting to keep pushing and I was just trying to win that match. I’m very pleased with the fight and very pleased with the win today.”

Standing between Svitolina and her first WTA 1000 title since the 2018 Internazionali BNL d’Italia is Pegula, who won her own thriller against Amanda Ansisimova in the first semifinal. Trailing her fellow American by a set and a break, Pegula roared back to maintain a perfect 5-0 head-to-head against last year’s Wimbledon and US Open finalist and put herself in striking distance of a first WTA 1000 title since 2024.

“It’s really, really special to be in the final again after a few years, of course, and to have another chance to lift that beautiful trophy,” said Svitolina, who returned to the Top 10 for the first time since becoming a mother earlier this year.

Svitolina has enjoyed a scintillating start to her 2026 season, reaching the semifinals Down Under—where she stormed past Gauff in the quarterfinals—and now has a chance to reach No. 7 in the rankings should she defeat Pegula in the final. Pegula leads their head-to-head 5-3, but Svitolina won their most recent encounter at the BNP Paribas Open last spring.