Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Gael Monfils of France, a married couple, have reached the mixed doubles semifinals at the US Open. This tournament is particularly significant as it marks Monfils' final Grand Slam appearance before his retirement. The pair secured their semifinal spot by defeating Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten in a close match with a score of 5-4 (6), 4-5 (3), (10-8).
The couple, who married in 2021 and have a daughter named Skaï, received wild card entries into the mixed doubles event. Svitolina, 29, reached the US Open semifinals in 2019, while Monfils, who will turn 40 on September 1, reached the semifinals in 2016. They expressed surprise at their success, with Svitolina noting they only worked on doubles tactics the day before their first match. Their unexpected run has been a feel-good story of the tournament, with Monfils quipping, "Happy wife, happy life" after their quarterfinal victory.
The US Open mixed doubles tournament underwent a significant revamp last year to attract more top singles players. It is now a two-day, 16-team event with a faster scoring format for early rounds, featuring sets to four games, a tiebreaker at 4-all, and a 10-point tiebreaker in place of a third set. Only the final will use traditional six-game sets. The winning team will receive $1 million. Svitolina and Monfils are set to face Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in their semifinal match.
