As he has done throughout his career, Gael Monfils produced a highlight-reel moment during his U.S. Open mixed doubles quarterfinal match on Tuesday afternoon. And even by his lofty standards, it was an epic one.
Monfils improbably tracked down what appeared to be a winning overhead by Henry Patten, and two shots later the 39-year-old Frenchman fired a forehand passing shot out of Katerina Siniakova’s reach.
The husband-and-wife pairing of Monfils and Elina Svitolina ended up beating Patten and Siniakova 5-4(6), 4-5(7), 10-8.
“[It] was a great day today — unexpectedly, I would say,” Svitolina commented. “But, yeah, (we are) very happy with two wins. Also playing against great doubles players in the second match. Yeah, just happy to get those wins and be in the semifinals.
“We had zero expectations. I mean, we practice quite a lot together back at home or on the tournaments. Only yesterday we worked on few things for double. The chemistry [was] what put us through because we understand each other even by the look at each other’s reaction or kind of mood. We can find the right words for each other, which is great, and I think [that is] very helpful in mixed doubles because everything goes super quick. You have no time to be sad and upset.”
“I had a ton of fun,” Monfils added. “I think we will have great images for our memory. I should say we came out there with low expectations, and I think we played two good [matches], so we’re very happy with it.”
all doubles players OUT!
Wow, that was an amazing achievement by those two versus Siniakova/Patten. Also by Rublev/Andreeva taking out the top doubles team!
Carlos Alcaraz got a teeny bit of competition practice.