Alize Cornet bumps off Garbine Muguruza in three sets at Bett1 Open

Alize Cornet in action during the quarterfinals against Garbine Muguruza at the Bett1 Open in Berlin, Germany. 

Alize Cornet put a lot of heart and emotion to come through a tough match at the Bett1 Open Friday. The Frenchwoman had five match points and nearly lost all of them in the third set tiebreak but held to upset Garbine Muguruza 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) on Steffi Graff Stadion at the Rott-Weiss Tennis Club in Berlin. 

The two met for the fifth time and made this their first match on grass. The Spaniard coasted to another victory against Sorana Cirstea leaving herself with a set dropped. Though she and Cornet haven’t met in two years, the Spaniard’s dominance in Germany so far gives her a likely opportunity to dictate once more against the struggling French player. 

Cornet opened service in the match but lost her chance to hold serve early. Muguruza forced deuce and produced a pair of breakpoints to take the game away. The Spaniard was trounced from backing up the break and saw her game work for the Frenchwoman. She scored a serve to love in the third to take a 2-1 lead on Muguruza, who turned things around in the fourth with a hold. She broke Cornet in the fifth for the lead, then put it into a new gear to take control. 

After doubling her lead on the 31-year-old, the two got back to holding service games through the next four games, but the margin won by Muguruza allowed her to close out the first on her terms. The Spaniard finished the set allowing Cornet one point that completed 48 minutes of play. She only served 57 percent against Cornet, who suffered three double faults and 10 unforced errors that made the difference. 

When it looked like she would open the match wide open, Cornet was the one who took control from the start of the second set. The 31-year-old held serve and got the best of Muguruza, who showed some struggles with her movement. After three games, the sixth seed was in a large hole and called for the trainer to deal with an issue. Her right foot needed tape to deal with a blister that caused her big changes to her game.

When they resumed, Muguruza was on serve and made good of her forehand to come through on the board. Cornet continued to have the advantage of two games as they played through service games up until the eighth. When it came time for the 31-year-old to serve it out, she gave up very little to the Spaniard, who still had issues with the right foot and bowed out of the second in 37 minutes. The sixth seed left the court to get a more detailed medical timeout for her right foot off the court. 

When she walked back to the court, the two got into action to open the deciding set with Muguruza serving it open. She scored her third shutout of Cornet in the match, making a statement of the power she still had left to play. Cornet responded with a serve to love of her own but couldn’t dig for the break in the third. They fought well against one another to hold serves through the next five games. 

As they reached the business end of the match, Muguruza was first to act and secured a 5-4 lead on Cornet, who was not yet out of it. She fought to make it difficult for Muguruza to get any easy chances and remained aggressive. A huge point came for the Spaniard as she somehow pulled off a crosscourt winner from the edge of the court. Her first match point was not successful as Cornet turned the tables late and came through to force more action. 

They each held serve through the last two to set up the tiebreak. Cornet opened with a 2-0 lead, earning a minibreak from Muguruza. She added another pair before the Spaniard got on the board but the next point went to Cornet who sat two points from a big upset. An error brought up a match point for the 31-year-old, who drew a forced error from the Spaniard on a big return. Muguruza scored a winner to cut the margin in half, but there were still three match points to save. 

With the balls in her hands, the French star gave up a mini-break and missed on a big forehand crosscourt that caused her to fall. With one more left, it came down to a good rally that saw Muguruza go for a drop shot but came up short as it failed to get across the net. It was a 2 hour and 40-minute drama that gave Cornet her first career grass semifinal and her 25^th overall. She was outperformed on winners but also managed to keep the unforced errors low.

Despite the hot conditions and the challenges from her opponent, who had ups and downs, Cornet made her way into Saturday where she’ll face Belinda Bencic for a spot in the final.