Elina Svitolina 'inspired' by husband Gael Monfils as Aus Open couple pull off upsets
Elina Svitolina took out the No. 4 seed at the Australian Open.
Elina Svitolina admitted she was "inspired" by her husband after upsetting No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini at the Australian Open.
The Ukrainian star came back from a set down to beat Paolini 2-6 6-4 6-0 on the Margaret Court Arena to book her spot in the second week.
It came straight after her partner Gael Monfils stunned the fourth seed in the men's draw, Taylor Fritz, on the same court.
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Aged 38, Monfils has been enjoying an incredible start to the season. He picked up the title at the ASB Classic and has carried his form into Melbourne, reaching the second week by eliminating Fritz.
The Frenchman played the last match of the day session on Margaret Court Arena moments before his wife, WTA No. 27 Svitolina took to the same stage to open the night session against two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini.
"I think I warmed up the court for her," he said at the end of his own match. "She’s playing also the world No. 4 so I guess it’s going to be tough for her."
Svitolina had been following along with her husband's match while preparing for her own. And she picked up where he left off, also taking out the fourth seed.
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Monfils had rushed to get into her courtside player box after finishing his post-match duties and his win was the motivation Svitolina needed.
"Well, it was a crazy battle today. I would want to say that I got inspired after my husband’s win," former world No. 3 Svitolina told the crowd.
"I watched a little bit, of course it was tough to miss it. But to be fair, I played so bad the first set, I don’t know if I was inspired!
"But after I really had to push through and I’m really happy with the way I came back to the match. I was just trying to get one extra ball over the net and find my shots so I was really happy with my performance in the end."
Monfils wasn't the only person motivating Svitolina on Saturday, as she revealed it was her the birthday of her coach, Andy Bettles.
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"As I said, my start [to the match] was not great and I felt really bad on the court today. It’s my coach’s birthday today so I wouldn’t be so proud if I would finish the match playing that way," Svitolina continued.
"I was just trying to really put a lot of fight there and stay as long as I can because the first set went really quick to Jasmine. Just [wanted to] really fight and try to move my legs as quick as possible."
The 30-year-old also credited her fighting spirit to her Ukrainian roots, adding: "In so many different levels, we show resilience. We are fighting for what is ours, we just want really badly to have it.
"Just fighting spirit is in our blood and we just try to do our best every single day."
Svitolina will now face Veronika Kudermetova as she bids to reach the Australian Open quarter-final for the third time. Meanwhile, Monfils takes on Ben Shelton.
