Alize Cornet pulled off a stunning upset against a top ten player at the French Open Saturday. The second highest ranked French player in the ladies draw managed to diminish the skills of Agnieszka Radwanska who couldn’t find a way of avoiding a straight sets loss 6-2, 6-1 on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros.
The history between the two European veterans dated back nine years where Radwanska became the better of the two. She lost only once to Cornet and has beaten her in every match since April. 2014. While she had a tough fight on her hands against Alison van Uytvanck, Cornet found a way to take down Barbora Strycova in straight sets. The notion and her having the home advantage in every match played gave her the best chance of pulling off another upset as well as ending a four-match losing streak.
The French star took the opening pair of games setting her strengths high to challenge Radwanska. Though she managed to break Cornet in the third, the world number ten was not able to hold on her own serve losing a tight battle in the fourth. She managed to get another game on break but the momentum was clearly with the French hopeful who widened the margin.
Cornet served for the set at 5-2 having many unforced errors but scored enough winners to maintain stability. She kept the heat on Radwanska in the eighth that led to her taking an important lead after 38 minutes of play. Despite having so many double faults, Cornet’s ability to keep her first serve at a decent percentage allowed her to trek while Radwanska’s suffered on every level.
She tried to remedy the problems in the second with a break of Cornet but finding her way to a service hold evaded her grasp. She went three breaks in the second game where every chance ended in an error on the rally returns. Cornet took advantage of the problems across court and made every point count from there on. She had the lead once more in the third coming out on top after a net front volley with Radwanska finished with a winner right behind her.
It was at that point that Cornet fed off the energy from her compatriots and built together a winning streak that had her well ahead of the competition. The chants of her name came during every changeover leaving the notion that coming back from such a large deficit would be difficult. The moment came for Radwanska to pull something off in the late stages of the second with Cornet on the verge of an upset. She inched closer to match point as Radwanska’s game never came together in time. She witnessed her demise in a seven-shot rally that ended with volleys at the net bringing an end to the 1 hour and 19-minute match.
From midway into the first set to the end, it was clear that Radwanska had very little to show on the day leaving the door open for Cornet to dictate the remainder of the match. She finished the third round with more winners than unforced errors and kept the first serve level. Her success and support from the crowd has her eyes set on a second appearance in the fourth round where she’ll face the winner between Su-Wei Hsieh or countrywoman Caroline Garcia on Monday.
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