Australian Open: Alizé Cornet wins heat battle against Simona Halep
Alizé Cornet (WTA No. 61) has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jan 24, 2022, 07:08 am
In a physically borderline match, Cornet beat former world number one Simona Halep 6: 4, 3: 6 and 6: 4 and thus made it into the round of the last eight in a major for the first time. And that at her 63rd Grand Slam tournament appearance ever.
Cornet had already led 3:1 and 40:30 in the second set, but then collapsed completely and lost 19 of the following 20 points to equalize the set - the last three games all ended with unnecessary mistakes. But then the French caught herself again. At 5:3 in the third round, she already had two match balls, one of which Halep fended off with a fine backhand longline.
Both players seemed to be exhausted by the middle of the second set, in extreme temperatures in the Rod Laver Arena. In the end, Cornet won the showdown.
Cornet came close to reaching Melbourne's quarter-finals for the first time in 2009, when she had two match points against Dinara Safina but still lost. Now she has finally made it.
Her opponent now is Danielle Collins: The American had surprisingly won against Elise Mertens - 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4 after almost three hours of play. The American had already made it to the semi-finals in Melbourne in 2019.
For the men'ssingle draw,For the women's single draw