Anastasija Sevastova rallies past Alize Cornet to advance at Monterrey
5th seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova made an epic comeback from a set down to defeat French Alize Cornet 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. She now advances into the quarterfinals at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open to be played on Friday.
Ranked 38th in the world, Sevastova displayed magnificent abilities at the Australian Open and reached the fourth round before losing to world number one Caroline Wozniacki. But after this, she was dumped out from Paris
and Dubai tournaments in early rounds.
A former top fifteen player, Cornet hasn’t had much progress this season as she trashed out from Paris Open and Auckland Open in early rounds. However, she entered this tournament in better shape, comparatively, as she defeated
Simona Halep in straight sets in the first round.
The Latvian fended off the French lead to win in a three set thriller. The 20-years old Sevastova fired 2 aces and had a much better first serve percentage of 69 percent as compared to Cornet’s 53 percent. But Cornet saved five
break points through her tremendous agility and won broke Latvian’s serve twice to win the first set.
Cornet started the second set with her winning momentum and was leading. But after few games she lost her concentration and committed 6 double faults and was able to save only 2 out of 5 break points. Sevastova on the other hand
took full advantage of this and clinched the set with 6-2 score.
Despite Cornet’s higher first serve percentage, the French committed many unforced errors in the final set. Latvian on the other hand registered an impressive 81 percent win on her first serve and converted two opportunities to
her advantage to win the final set 6-4. Not only this, Sevastova hammered two aces and earned more points on her return shorts i.e. 47 percent as compared to Cornet’s 37 percent.
Sevastova took the lead in the head-to-head 2-1 after defeating the Frenchwoman. In another late match, top seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic advanced to the quarters and is the Latvian’s next opponent. The 26-years old Serb defeated
the 107th ranked Sybille Bammer with a score line of 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 29 minutes.
Jankovic broke four times and hammered three aces to clinch the match convincingly. She also had a much higher first serve percentage and earned an exceptional 69 percent win on it.
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