ELINA Svitolina and Gael Monfils are one win away from the US Open mixed doubles final after becoming the first team to reach the semifinals Tuesday (Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, PH time), the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The married couple edged Katerina Siniakova and Henry Patten 5-4 (6), 4-5 (3), (10-8) and will face Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in Wednesday’s (Thursday in PH) semifinals.
The other semifinal pits Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev against Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik. The champions will earn $1 million.
Svitolina and Monfils earlier routed Alex Eala of the Philippines and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-1, 4-1.
The run is especially meaningful for Monfils, who turns 40 on Sept. 1 and is playing in his final Grand Slam tournament before retiring. He reached the US Open semifinals in 2016, while Svitolina made the final four in 2019.
“Happy wife, happy life,” Monfils said after sharing a kiss and hug with Svitolina following their victory.
The pair received wild cards and had little time to prepare.
“We practice quite a lot together back at home or on the tournaments. Only yesterday we worked on few things for doubles,” Svitolina said, according to AP. “When we warmed up this morning, yeah, I told my coach it would be amazing if we can win just a few games.”
Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz won their opening match but were eliminated by Bencic and Cobolli 5-4 (4), 4-1.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, was playing at the US Open for the first time since 2022. She and Alcaraz beat Erin Routliffe and Lloyd Glasspool before losing their second match.
“It’s always such an amazing place to be here,” Williams said. “I never expected to be back on this court, so it was just a really cool moment.”
Andreeva and Rublev, the 2024 champions, advanced to the semifinals after surviving Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori 1-4, 4-1, (11-9), then beating Diana Shnaider and Casper Ruud 4-1, 4-5 (9), (10-5).
Muchova and Mensik also reached the semifinals with a 4-1, 5-3 win over Emma Navarro and Tommy Paul.
Siniakova and Patten had earlier upset Aryna Sabalenka and Novak Djokovic 1-4, 4-2, (10-2). Siniakova closed out the victory with an ace while serving to Djokovic. / LBG
