Having triumphed 6-3, 6-4 against teenage quarter-finalist Linda Noskova, Ukrainian Yastremska signed the camera on her way out with the words: “I’m proud of our fighting people”.

It follows compatriot Marta Kostyuk’s own stirring words following her exit from the tournament on Tuesday night.

“I hope we will be able to succeed (at) most of the tournaments, especially the big ones where there is a lot of media. People should be reminded,” Kostyuk said at her post-match press conference.

“I walk off the court – before the match I was looking at the news and I kind of guess that most likely there would be a big missile shelling again.

“When I walked off the court, I look at this news again, and again, I don’t know how many missiles yet. It’s still too fresh.

“But I was texting with some people from Kyiv. I said, ‘How is it? How are you guys?’ They said, ‘Well, we were looking between your score and where the missiles are flying’.

“It’s still there (the conflict). My parents are still there … my sister is still there.”

Earlier, the simmering tension surrounding Russian and Ukrainian stars at the Australian Open exploded at the junior level, with a teenage star thrust into the spotlight.

16-year-old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar is under investigation by her own country over a handshake with Russia’s Vlada Mincheva following their round-one match. Scroll down for more details of that story.

1:30PM: YASTREMSKA IS THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINALS

Dayana Yastremska is trhough to the semi-finals of the Australian Open after beating Linda Nosková 6-3, 6-4.

It is the first time Yastremska has reached the semi-finals of a grand slam tournament, bettering third round appeareances at the Australian Open in 2022 and US Open in 2021.

She is the first qualifier to reach the semi-finals since 1978.

The win brought to an end a fairytale run for 19-year-old Linda Nosková, who took out No.1 seed Iga Swiatek in the third round,on her way to the quarterfinals of her first Australian Open.

She will take on the winner of tonight’s quarterfinal between Anna Kalinskaya and Qinwen Zheng.

1PM: DODGY ‘BUBBLING’ COURT HALTS AUS OPEN QUARTER-FINAL

There were strange scenes at court 3 where Matthew Ebden’s doubles semi-final was held up by a “bubbling” court.

Play was halted early in the first set, with the pairing of Maximo Gonzalez and Andreas Molteni leading Ebden and partner Rohan Bopanna 2-1, after blistering was spotted.

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the small bubbles, the bigger bubbles are visible to the eye, but sometimes bubbling can occur on the hard courts,” John Millman said in commentary.

“There were some problems on the US Open courts years ago with bubbling, and it’s where the moisture gets stuck underneath the surface.

“The ball doesn’t bounce on it, it really affects the bounce. If the bubbles get big enough it can actually be quite difficult to move on [too].”

Play was eventually resumed with the match moved to another court, with Ebden and Bopanna winning in straight sets.

12:52PM: YASTREMSKA TAKES FIRST SET

Dayana Yastremska is one set away from a spot in the semi-finals after taking the first set 6-3.

Broken in her second service game, the Ukranian bounced back immediately to take game four.

She broke again in game eight before serving out the set.

The winner of this match will take on the winner of tonight’s quarter between Anna Kalinskaya and Qinwen Zheng.

12:22PM: NOSKOVÁ v YASTREMSKA UNDERWAY

The third women’s quarter-final is underway, with Linda Nosková taking on Dayana Yastremska.

Noskova has taken an early advantage in the set, leading 2-1 after breaking serve in game three.

The winner of this match will take on the winner of tonight’s quarter between Anna Kalinskaya and Qinwen Zheng.

11:30AM: GAUFF’S PERFECT REPLY TO CREEPY AUS OPEN SLEDGE

Coco Gauff’s fine Australian Open campaign has continued on and off the court.

Gauff knocked over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk (7-6, 6-7, 6-2) on Tuesday to secure her place in the semi-finals, and she took Kostyuk’s husband down a peg or two via Instagram afterwards.

Kostyuk’s husband wore an ill-advised hat in the player’s box on Tuesday, monogrammed with the words “shake your cocos” either side of a split coconut.

Gauff comfortably had the last laugh, posting ‘shakey shake’ alongside a video of match point as an Instagram story.

It’s the second time this tournament Gauff has made headlines for her social media use, after calling out a ‘hideous’ depiction of her and her fellow US tennis stars at the Australian Open as characters from ‘90s cartoon The Wild Thornberrys.

Gauff described it as the “worst thing I’ve ever seen” in an Instagram story.

“Like a caricature artist decided to make (us) all look like hideous looking people. The art style is cool for a cartoon show but not for a hype post. Foul,” she wrote.

Gauff later added on Twitter the post made the players “all look so ugly”.

While criticism of the post led to it being deleted, Gauff later clarified that she had been making fun of the situation when asked about it after her first-round win.

10:45AM: TEEN TENNIS STAR INVESTIGATED OVER ON-COURT ACT

The simmering tension surrounding Russian and Ukrainian stars at the Australian Open has exploded at the junior level, with a teenage star thrust into the spotlight.

16-year-old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar is under investigation by her own country over a handshake with Russia’s Vlada Mincheva following their round-one match.

After losing the match 6-2 6-4, Kotlier defied the unwritten rule of her fellow Ukrainians – and shook the hand of her opponent.

The subject of handshakes and the uneasy coexistence of Ukrainian and Russian players competing against each other on the tennis circuit – with their countries engaged in an ongoing war – has been a major talking point of this year’s tournament.

Several Ukrainian players have been outspoken about the war in their country during the Open and have continued to shirk post-match handshakes against Russian and Belarusian opponents.

Asked about her position of not shaking hands, Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko felt the world did not want to “talk about war” and said the stance was her way of ensuring a conversation about the events in her nation continued.

“It is a national position. I think if you want I can try to explain to you how it feels, but it is probably tough to explain if you are not part of the country that is in the war right now,” Tsurenko said.

“This is another reminder that there is a war in my country. If you can just imagine (being) in my place or any other Ukrainian you would not have this question.

“This is the right thing to do and I do this for Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian Tennis Federation took a dim view of “the unpleasant incident” and said it had been a mistake on the teen’s part.

Her father, Konstantin Kotliar, spoke on behalf of his daughter to explain the situation.

“The atmosphere here is extraordinary, which in itself puts a lot of pressure on the athletes,” he said in a statement released by the UTF.

“At the beginning of your career, it’s hard to cope with this and not be nervous. Unfortunately, my daughter didn’t feel calm, her emotions were running high, so she wasn’t completely in control of her behaviour.

“She automatically performed the post-match ritual, not realising that behind the net there was a representative of the country who launched the attack on our homeland.

“It was definitely a mistake that Liza regrets and assures us that she will never allow anything like that to happen again.”

10.15AM: NOVAK-KYRGIOS BROMANCE GOES NEXT LEVEL

In case you needed any further proof of their blossoming bromance, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios went public with a PDA on centre court.

During his four-set win over Taylor Fritz, Djokovic hit a ridiculous cross-court backhand winner – and while celebrating with the crowd, spotted Kyrgios in the commentary booth.

And so the 10-time Australian Open champion blew him a kiss.

“I sat in that box for four hours, by the way, commentating. You were blowing me kisses, sticking your tongue out,” Kyrgios said afterwards in an on-court chat with Djokovic.

9.45AM: FRITZ HAMMERS LATE-NIGHT SCHEDULE FARCE

Defeated quarterfinalist Taylor Fritz has reignited calls for the Australian Open to overhaul its scheduling after he and Novak Djokovic began their match more than two hours after it was scheduled to start on Tuesday.

The American No.1 bowed out in four tough sets against Djokovic in a match that pushed the Rod Laver Arena night session beyond a 9pm start.

It meant the other men’s quarterfinal clash between Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev did not get on-court until after 10:30pm.

Fritz said he empathised with Sinner and Rublev – and particularly the winner, who would have to face Djokovic on a compromised sleep schedule in the semi-finals on Friday.

“I pray for those guys if they end up doing that (a late finish) that they can at least get scheduled at that time for the rest of the tournament,” Fritz said.

“Because if you have to turn around and play in the afternoon on any of the other days, it completely messes up your sleep schedule.

“It’s not easy to go out in the middle of the day in the heat and play three to five sets, especially when your body clock isn’t on it.”

The lengthy delays on Tuesday again put the spotlight on the Australian Open scheduling, which had already produced a 3.49am finish in the third round between Daniil Medvedev and Emil Ruusuvuori.

“Yeah I think it’s rough,” Fritz said.

“I was talking about that to Medvedev with a group of guys before, because he finished that one match so late.

“It just screws up your whole clock.

“In one case I get it – matches go long some days. Like today in particular my match was long, the match before us was long. But there’s got to be something they can do where people aren’t playing until 2-3am.

“I don’t think people really fully understand how much time we actually have to spend doing stuff after we finish playing as far as ice bath, treatment with physios, massage and all this stuff.

“If you finish at 2am there’s no chance of going to sleep until like 5 or 6am.”

9.10AM: IS SINNER THE MAN TO DETHRONE NOVAK?

Jannik Sinner has looked a man possessed at this Australian Open – and is putting together the sort of tournament which should have 10-time champion Novak Djokovic worried.

The pair will face off in a semi-final on Friday, with Djokovic’s perfect 10-0 record in Australian Open semis under serious threat.

Sinner is the hottest player in tennis right now and has lifted his level against the truly elite names in the sport over the past 12 months.

At just 22 years old, he’s coming off the best season of his career and is reversing a miserable record against the top players in the world.

Prior to 2023, Sinner had a horrendous 1-15 record against players ranked in the top five in the world. Since then, however, he’s won 11 and lost just five matches against the truly top tier stars.

He’s yet to drop a set at this year’s Australian Open and only Carlos Alcaraz had spent less time on court heading into the quarter-finals.

It’s reason enough for Djokovic to be concerned.

“He’s probably playing tennis of his life,” Djokovic said of Sinner after his victory over Taylor Fritz on Tuesday.

“He had a fantastic ending of the last season and we had a couple of great encounters in Torino, also the Davis Cup, very close ones going 7-6, 7-5 in the third.

“I can expect him to always play on the highest level.”

8.30AM: WHO WILL EMERGE FROM WOMEN’S RAVAGED DRAW?

Seeds have tumbled in the top half of the women’s draw, leaving just Chinese 12th seed Zheng Qinwen standing.

She is pitted against Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya.

The 21-year-old is taking inspiration from compatriot Li Na’s win in Australia in 2014 and got a boost when she spoke to the retired Chinese star for the first time in person in Melbourne.

Unseeded Czech player Linda Noskova, who ousted top seed Iga Swiatek, takes on Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska in the first match on centre court.

Yastremska also has major scalps to her name — she has beaten Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka.

8.00AM: ALCARAZ HEADLINES WEDNESDAY ACTION

Carlos Alcaraz will attempt to take the next step towards a potential shootout for the Australian Open title and number one spot when he faces Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev meets Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the other men’s last eight clash.

Spanish world number two Alcaraz has dropped just one set so far at Melbourne Park, showing flashes of his brilliant best, but will be tested by the sixth seed in a night match on Rod Laver Arena.

Zverev has won four of the seven meetings between the pair, including their most recent encounter at the ATP Finals in November.

But Alcaraz, 20, has drawn confidence from his performances in Australia.

However, he knows he will be in a scrap against the giant German, who has been through two gruelling five-setters.

Alcaraz is aiming to become the third man in the Open Era to win three Grand Slams before the age of 21, after Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander.

He also has the chance to supplant Novak Djokovic as world number one.

Originally published as Australian Open day 11: Live scores, all the latest news from Melbourne Park