Alize Cornet did what had seemed unthinkable at the start of Wimbledon. The Frenchwoman upset world no. 1 and the top seed, Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Championships on Saturday. The 32-year-old won 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 33 minutes bringing an end to Swiatek’s run of wins at 37 matches.
The start proved to be ominous for Swiatek as she went down a break to open the proceedings. Not only did Cornet consolidate the break, she also broke Swiatek for the second time in the set to take a 3-0 double-break lead. Cornet’s concentration shook briefly as she handed the second break back in the fourth game while trying to consolidate it. Swiatek had a break point on Cornet’s serve in the sixth game to level the set on serve but wasn’t able to do so. The set remained on serve thereafter with Cornet serving it out in the 10th game.
The second set started out in Swiatek’s favour as she broke Cornet’s serve in the second game of the set to go up 2-0. However, Cornet made up for her brief lapse by winning the next six games on the trot to wrap up the match.
Swiatek looked discomfited throughout the match even as Cornet played intuitively, compounding Swiatek’s nerviness. Cornet’s shots not only helped her bag winners but also drew out the errors off Swiatek who seemed to be, for the first time in a long time this year, at the receiving end of what she’d been doing to her opponents all this while.
Cornet had 16 errors to Swiatek’s 21 but where the 32-year-old had just seven unforced errors, her opponent had more than four times as many with 33. This is the second time in her career that Cornet’s made it to the pre-quarters at Wimbledon. Next up for her will be Ajla Tomljanovic. The Australian came from a set down to beat 13th seed Barbora Krejcikova, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
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There were a couple of other notable upsets in the third-round matches. Amanda Anisimova, the 20th seed, took out 11th seed and the 2022 French Open finalist, Coco Gauff in their match. Anisimova rebounded from losing the first set to win 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 in two hours and seven minutes. Anisimova will play Harmony Tan. The French player won against Katie Boulter, 6-1, 6-1 to make it to the second week of a Major for the first time in her career.
Elena Rybakina and Petra Martic will take on each other for a chance to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Rybakina, the 17th seed defeated Qinwen Zheng, 7-6(4), 7-5 in their round-of-32 match. The Croatian got past eighth seed Jessica Pegula, 6-2, 7-6(5) in their clash.
Lastly, fourth seed Paula Badosa and 16th seed Simona Halep will play each other in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Badosa beat the two-time former champion, the 25th-seeded Petra Kvitova, 7-5, 7-6(4) in the third round. Halep, the 2019 Wimbledon winner took down Magdalena Frech, 6-4, 6-1.
Photo Credit: WTA Twitter