Alize Cornet stuns Anabel Medina Garrigues to reach semis – Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012
Local wildcard entrant, Alize Cornet, stomped over the fourth seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in two set’s tie-breaker at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012 on Thursday. She nudged up a 7-6(2), 7-6(5) victory against the world number 31 to book a place
in the semi-finals at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level tournament taking place from 19th to 26th May in Strasbourg.
Cornet stayed on track to bid for her second WTA career title after upsetting the Spanish number one in their first encounter at her home tournament. She not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the Spaniard but also progressed into the
final four at this event.
"It was a very difficult match and I'm so happy I could beat Anabel today because she's such a great player on clay," Cornet said. "But I just fought as hard as I could on every point. I played very well in both tie-breaks. The second set was especially
close and I could have won easier but she came back and in the end I'm just really glad to make the semifinals here."
The 22-year-old made a sloppy start at this outdoor clay court event and after losing her opening serve, she went 0-2 down. Despite recovering in the very next game, Cornet was broken again in the sixth game and trailed at 2-4. However, she not only snatched
her break back in the very next game but stayed on track to impose a tie-breaker. The French leaped to a 4-1 lead in it before pulling out the opener with a 7-6(2) score line.
Ranked 83rd in the WTA Premier Rankings, Cornet lost her path again and suffered the first blow in the opening game to fall at 0-2. However, she not only snatched her break back in the fourth game but exchanged two more serve breaks to enforce
another tie-breaker. The French edged past Medina Garrigues in it and bagged the set with a 7-6(5) win.
Up next for Cornet is her ultra-fit compatriot, Pauline Parmentier, who shocked top seeded Sabine Lisicki in her opening round match. She crushed the Russian qualifier, Alexandra Panova, in straight sets to set up this battle.
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