The French tennis player Alize Cornet has finally qualified for the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. In her 63rd attempt, the 32-year-old Alize Cornet managed to escape an inexplicable breakdown in her game in the second set and eliminated two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep (Romania) with 2-1 (6:4, 3:6, 6:4).
In the second set in question, Alize Cornet was leading 3:1 and things seemed to be under control, but then she gave five consecutive games and 16 consecutive points to the Romanian and the battle had to continue in the third set.
The drama continued in the decisive third part. In the ninth game, Simona Halep saved two match points and still took her service game, but in the 10th game Alize Cornet imposed her will and managed to succeed.
Immediately after the last victory point, she fell to her knees, folded her arms in a prayer position, then placed them on her face and turned to look at the stands and her coaching staff.
Alize Cornet had never been in the fourth round of a Slam tournament since her debut at that level in 2005 when she received a wild card for Roland Garros. And she is currently in her 17th campaign at the Australian Open.
“It’s never too late to try again!”, said Alize Cornet after the match. “This is my first quarterfinal and it means that the journey continues at an even higher level. My dream is starting to come true. I feel amazing after all this battle with Simona and this hot weather, over 30 degrees. I think we both suffocated a lot after the first 30 minutes of the match”, added the happy French player.
The next rival of Alize Cornet will be Danielle Collins, who eliminated the 19th placed in the scheme Elise Mertens (Belgium) with 2-1 (4:6, 6:4, 6:4). This was the first match of the day at Rod Laver Arena, which lasted nearly 3 hours, and both matches were played at a temperature of 34 degrees Celsius.
