Elina Svitolina asks umpire about husband Gael Monfils during win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at US Open
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Published 31/08/2023 at 23:05 GMT
Elina Svitolina had lost the opening set to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in their second round US Open match. In the second set, when the match was on a knife-edge, her attentions turned to her husband Gael Monfils, who was in action against Andrey Rublev. The Ukrainian admits her husband gave her "motivation" as she took control of the match to win 5-7 6-4 6-4.
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Elina Svitolina came from a set down to seal her place in the third round of the US Open with a 5-7 6-4 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and the Ukrainian admits her husband Gael Monfils provided her with "motivation".
Svitolina, who is making her 10th appearance at Flushing Meadows, took control of proceedings after losing the opening set and in the end comfortably progressed in the tournament after two hours and 46 minutes.
It's a performance that will give her confidence of possibly matching - or bettering - her run at Wimbledon where she stunned Iga Swiatek to reach the semi-finals.
She will now play the winner of either Jessica Pegula or Patricia Maria Tig.
In her post-match interview it was noted that Svitolina's style has been more aggressive and decisive since her return to the tour in April after giving birth.
“I try to, you know, be a little bit more aggressive," she said. "I’m not young anymore so I have to hit a bit stronger to run less a little bit. But, you know, I’m trusting my physical conditions and I’m really happy that I’m back playing.
“This kind of match is definitely what I’ve been practicing for and to play in front of you guys is really, really special. So thank you very much for all your support.”
In the second set, when the match was on a knife-edge, Svitolina turned to the umpire and asked about her husband Gael Monfils who was in action against Andrey Rublev.
"I was just trying to get some little motivation, you know, from him," she explained. "I know he's playing out there and it just changed my head a little bit because I was not playing my best. I had to, you know, bring different energy and you know, I was just thinking about him a little bit."
Svitolina, the 26th seed, survived a scare in the fourth game of the first set when she saved a break point with a clean cross-court winner.
In what was a high-quality match, the Ukrainian showed resilience by saving two set points at 6-5 – but she couldn’t fend off a third as Pavlyuchenkova eventually prevailed to take the first set.
Svitolina will have been disappointed that although she had crafted seven break points by the third game of the second set, she had failed to take any of them.
But she eventually made the breakthrough to take a 3-2 lead and saw the job through to send the match to a decider on Louis Armstrong.
Pavlyuchenkova appeared to lose her nerve in the third set as several unforced errors crept in. The momentum had shifted, and she was broken early.
At 4-0 down, Pavlyuchenkova reduced the deficit to 4-3. But Svitolina dug deep to hold and move to within a game of the next round, taking a third match point in the 10th game to seal the deal.
Meanwhile, Madison Keys breezed past Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-2 in just 54 minutes to set up a third-round match with Liudmila Samsonova.
World No. 9 Marketa Vondrousova defeated Martina Trevisan 6-2 6-2 to set up a match with Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-3.
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