Less than 24 hours after her husband electrified Roland Garros with a late-night five-set win on Court Phillippe Chatrier, it was Elina Svitolina’s turn to shine at the French Open.
Svitolina, who returned to the Tour only last month following the birth of her first child, sealed a place in the third round by battling back from a set down to defeat Storm Sanders 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. It continues what has been a strong run for the former world No.3 in France since the start of May. She is currently on a seven-match winning streak after clinching her 17th Tour title in Strasburg last week.
On the eve of her latest win, Svitolina was up until midnight watching her husband Gael Monfils beat Sebastian Baez 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5, in a four-hour rollercoaster. Although she stated that this was now the reason for her slow start against Sanders in Paris.
“I was up until midnight when the match was done and went to bed straight away,” she said.
“I Had a solid seven hours of sleep, which is quite good for the Grand Slam.”
The heroics of her partner appears to be only adding to Svitolina’s own desire to return to the top of the women’s game. She won the 2018 WTA Finals and reached the semi-finals of two major events in 2019.
“It gave me motivation to go again today,” Svitolina commented on Monfils’ win.
“He was there for me today. Made such a big effort to come and support me, especially on a tough day like today. So really it motivated me to fight and not give up and play every point, try to put 100% effort out there.”
This year’s French Open is a special event for the Ukranian on a personal level with it being the first tournament both she and her husband have played at as a married couple. Monfils suffered a plantar fascia rupture in his right foot last year which sidelined him from competition for seven months. The couple also have their baby daughter Skai with them in Paris.
“So far everything is going well, and we really enjoy our time off the court together, and on the court as well,” Svitolina commented.
“We try to be focused and play as good as we can. Of course, it’s really important to have a team for Skai, who takes care of her, so then we can focus on tennis. Especially at such a big event with lots of pressure and lots of things going on, it’s important that your mind is calm about your child and then you have 100% head into the tennis.”
Svitolina has reached the third round of the French Open in eight out of 10 main draw appearances. She will next play Russia’s Anna Blinkova who stunned home favourite Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in a thrilling match.
