Top-ranked Iga Swiatek, unbeaten since February with 37 consecutive match wins and six consecutive tournament titles, got stopped in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
Alize Cornet defeated Swiatek 6-4, 6-2. The victory puts the 32-year-old Frenchwoman into the Round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time since 2014.
Cornet’s victory over Swiatek is her first complete-match win over a reigning World No.1 since notching a similar result in the third round of Wimbledon in 2014. Then, Cornet had stunned No.1 Serena Williams 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to her first Round of 16 at the grass court grand slam.
“I know I didn't play good tennis. I was pretty confused about my tactics,” said Swiatek, a two-time French Open champion who has never advanced past the fourth round at the All England Club. “For sure, it wasn’t a good performance for me.”
The encounter unexpectedly turned into a one-sided affair 1-hour, 33-minute long.
“This kind of match is what I’m living for, it's what I’m practicing for every day,” Cornet said. “It really drives me. I knew I could do it. Somehow, I had this belief.”
“I have no words right now. It reminds me of the time I beat Serena on the same court, eight years ago exactly,” Cornet said. “This court is a lucky charm for me.”
Cornet is a 32-year-old who reached her first quarter final in 63 appearances at majors by getting that far at the Australian Open in January. Now she’s a win away from getting that far again, facing unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia next. “I’m like good wine,” Cornet said. “Good wine always ages well.”
Tomljanovic ousted 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Gauff’s goof-up
Coco Gauff’s Wimbledon challenge came unstuck in the third round when she was beaten by familiar foe Amanda Anisimova 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 in an all-American showdown.
The two Florida-based players had made their way through the junior ranks at the same time, with Anisimova thrashing Gauff to win the US Open junior title in 2017.
Anisimova will meet Serena Williams’s conqueror, Harmony Tan, for a place in the quarter-finals. Harmony continued her stellar Wimbledon debut to book her maiden fourth-round spot at a grand slam, crushing Briton Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-1 in just 51 minutes.
The 24-year-old, 115th-ranked Frenchwoman proved that her thrilling win over seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena in the opening round was no fluke and she has now won three straight Tour-level matches for the first time in her career.
Badosa to face Halep
Fourth seed Paula Badosa dug deep to edge two-time champion Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6(4) and book her spot in the fourth round of the Championships. The Spaniard, who made the same stage in 2021 at the grasscourt Grand Slam, will next meet the last remaining former Wimbledon champion in the women’s draw, Romanian Simona Halep, for a place in the quarter finals.
Halep progressed with a commanding 6-4, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
De Minaur rules
Alex De Minaur proved rock solid as he ended British wildcard Liam Broady’s Wimbledon run in the third round on Saturday, winning 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the last 16 for the first time.
For the second match in succession, the 23-year-old was up against a British left-hander, and as against Jack Draper, the 19th seed gave a masterclass of precision hitting.
Broady, playing in the third round of a grand slam for the first time after knocking out seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman in five sets, threw everything in his arsenal at De Minaur. But finding a way past one of the quickest players in men’s tennis was exhausting with De Minaur picking up balls that he had no right to get back.
He will face Chile’s Cristian Garin next as he looks to reach his second grand slam quarter final. Having not had anyone in the last 16 of the men’s singles at Wimbledon since 2016, Australia have two this year after De Minaur joined Jason Kubler, who beat Jack Sock.
