'Great day' for happy couple Svitolina, Monfils at Australian Open

Elina Svitolina hailed a super Saturday for her and husband Gael Monfils at Melbourne Park after both sent world number four players packing from the Australian Open.

Ukraine's Svitolina beat Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the women's draw just hours after Frenchman Monfils stunned American Taylor Fritz on the same Margaret Court Arena in the men's singles.

"It's really a great day for us today, beating top-four players and playing great tennis," said the 30-year-old Svitolina.
The 38-year-old Monfils was watching from Svitolina's on-court coaching box as the couple both reached the last 16 of the first Grand Slam of the year.

"Most of the big tournaments we have each other by our sides. It means a lot to have someone who understands what I am going through," said Svitolina.

Svitolina and Monfils got married in 2021 and had a daughter in 2022. They try to keep their on-court and off-court lives separate.

"When we go back home, we completely switch off (from tennis)," Svitolina explained. "We just enjoy our time as a family, as a mum and dad with our daughter.

"It's a really unique connection that we have. I'm really happy with the way that we've been dealing with these things."

Svitolina's best showing at the Australian Open was reaching the quarter-finals in 2018 and 2019.

Monfils' 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 win over Fritz sent him into the last 16 for a sixth time in 19 appearances in Melbourne.

Svitolina dropped five games in a row to lose the first set against the Italian Paolini but stepped up the pace to win the second.

The world number 27 then completely ran away with the third as Paolini had no answers to her shot-making which gleaned 34 winners.

A finalist at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, Paolini is the highest-ranked woman to exit Melbourne Park so far this year.

In 2024, Paolini became the first Italian woman to make the last 16 at all four Grand Slams in the Open Era and won the title in Dubai in a breakthrough season.

"I think that after the first set she raised her level, for sure," said Paolini. "She started to play better and better. I think my intensity was a little bit going down. At the end she played a better match than me."

Svitolina will play for a place in the quarter-finals against unseeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova, who beat Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-2.

Svitolina will not shake hands with Russian opponents, as is the case for all Ukrainian players because of the war in their homeland.

Agence France-Presse