Taylor Fritz, the 14th seed from the USA, had impressed greatly until Saturday morning in this year's first Grand Slam tennis tournament. But against the 38-year-old Frenchman Gaël Monfils, it came to an end.
Monfils won with 3–1 in sets (3–6, 7–5, 7–6, 6–4) and thus became the second-oldest man, after the Swiss Roger Federer, to advance to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park. In the next round, he will face another player from the USA, Ben Shelton.
Followed his wife's match
I did my job. It was an incredible match. Taylor is strong and serves well. I myself felt that I could move perfectly today, said Gaël Monfils, according to the Australian website Nine.
He had more reasons to celebrate. A little while later, Monfils' wife, the Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina, stepped forward and pulled off a similar upset. The Italian Jasmine Paolini, just like Fritz ranked fourth in the world, won the first set, but then it was all about Svitolina, who secured the advancement with 2–1 in sets (2–6, 6–4, 6–0).
Russian opposition next
It was a crazy match today. I would like to say that I got inspiration from my husband's victory. I watched a bit of his match, says Svitolina in the victory interview in Max.
But I started the match so badly, so I don't know if it worked that well. But I'm glad I managed to get into it and then find my game, so I'm incredibly happy.
In the quarterfinals, Svitolina will face the Russian Veronika Kudermetova.
