SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Viva La France’s Alize Cornet, for in Monday’s 63rd attempt and two days after celebrating her 32nd birthday, she finally reached a major Grand Slam quarterfinals in what was her 17th trip to the Australian Tennis Open.
On a steaming hot late afternoon in Melbourne, she didn’t have it easy getting past two-time major champion Simona Halep, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
The temperatures climbed to 93 degrees, with extra breaks allowed for players to cope with the heat.
Said the happy but drained Cornet: “I used bags of ice to cool down my head during changeovers, and draped cold towels over my neck.”
But she did find the strength to drop to her knees on the hard blue court and clap her hands before she took a few minutes to let it sink it after getting past Halep, a former Wimbledon and French Open champion and runner-up at the Australian. This gave her a record for most appearances at a major before reaching the quarterfinals.
“I just stopping thinking after 30 minutes on the court,” she said in her on-court interview, and my brain was already like, overloaded. My vision was not clear anymore and my hands were shaking.”
But, she added, “I thought, on the other side of the court, she was not feeling much better than me.”
Halep, when draped with cold towels after the match, had much praise for a player she had never lost to, even got the crowd to show their approval.
Cornet, who served well, especially in the first and third sets, also got away some crafty forehands and backhands, and often sent some buzzing shots down the line. She had made her main draw Grand Slam singles debut as a wild card entry at the 2005 French Open played before her family, friends and player supporters.
But she had lost her five previous fourth-round starts although she had close to gaining the quarters several times. With a present ranking of 61 — 50 lower than her career-high No. 11, Cornet entered the 2022 season acknowledging that retirement must be close, and that it was now or never for a Grand Slam breakthrough.
But she’s not checking out, just advancing to next play American Danielle Collins, a 2019 Australian Open semifinalist who disposed Monday of 19th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in an almost three-hour match in the enclosed Rod Laver Arena.
No. 115-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Poland had the same feeling, waiting until she was 36 to reach the quarterfinals here and finally moving on, after wasting four match points, to upset 2nd-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Russia, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7).
Now she sets up a showdown versus 2020 French Open champion Iga Switatek, who turned back Sorana Cirstea. 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, in another long match in the Margaret Court Arena.
In men’s play, 20th-seeded American Taylor Fritz went back-and-fourth in an exciting five-setter before losing 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to 4th-seeded Stefanos Tistsipas in the Laver Arena.
In the marquee afternoon’s men’s match on the Court Arena, U.S. Open champion Danill Medvedev of Russia, won over a rising 70th-ranked Maxime Cressy of the USA, 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-5.
Medvedev said that Cressy’s serve-and-volley style created some frustrations for him, but after saving eight break points in the fourth set, Cressy was broken in that game and Medvedev served out at love.
No. 11 Jannik Sinner ended Australian’s last hope in the main draw when he defeated No. 32 Alex de Minaur 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4, and next faces Tsitsipas, last year’s French Open runner-up.
Morning temperatures were reported to rise to single degrees, so there’s still plenty of sweat to be concerned with.
