By Chris Oddo | Saturday, June 28, 2014
Alize Cornet pulled the upset of Wimbledon on Day 6, taking down Serena Williams, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Photo Source: Steve Bardens/ Getty
Alize Cornet sent tremors through the Wimbledon grounds on Day 6, stunning top-seeded and five-time champion Serena Williams in come-from-behind fashion, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The loss sends the world No. 1 deeper into doubt at her long-term prospects at the top of the game. She has not reached the quarterfinals in any of the three majors in 2014, after winning two of four in 2013.
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“Wow,” said Cornet. “It’s just a dream. I really have to realize it and then I will have to be ready for the next match because the tournament is not over for me yet.”
Cornet’s second consecutive win against Williams also marks the Frenchwoman’s first victory against a top 20 opponent at a major—she had been 0-13 vs. such opposition at the Grand Slam level.
The players got three games into their third-round contest before the rains came, and after a long rain delay it was Williams who charged out of the gates to take the opening set, 6-1, winning four straight games after the tarps had come off.
“After the break because of the rain I couldn’t move my legs,” said Cornet. “I was so slow. After 6-1 in like 15 minutes I was like ‘Whoah, this is going to be tough,’ and finally I came through, I don’t know how I did it—just with the heart and the help of the crowd.”
There were the drop shots, too.
Cornet bested Williams in several cat-and-mouse rallies, ones that seemed to shift the emotional belief from Williams’ side to hers in a second set that saw the Frenchwoman race out to a 5-0 lead. Cornet struck 11 winners to 8 for Williams in that set, and despite giving back a break, she was able to finish it off without the loss of too much momentum heading into the decider.
Williams would try to stem the tide in the early moments of the third set. She fought through a gritty six-deuce game to hold in the first game of the set, saving one break point by running down a dropper and letting out a guttural cry.
But Cornet would keep the pressure on, and judging from the tone of the rallies and the energy of the players, it was clear that Cornet was the better player on this day. Frequently she pushed Williams far beyond the baseline, and when Williams had chances to inject her legendary powerful strokes into the match, she didn’t seem to have them at her disposal.
Cornet’s territorial edge finally paid off in the fifth game, as she converted on her third break point of the game, and two games later, after a frenetic Williams shoveled a backhand well wide, Cornet had a double-break advantage and a 5-2 lead.
Serving for the match proved to be too much for Cornet, as Williams, now connecting on her groundstrokes with nothing to lose, crushed a few returns to get to 5-3, then held for 5-4.
But in the tenth game, Cornet would finish off the biggest victory of her career. After a botched backhand volley gave her match point, one last dropper would seal the triumph for Cornet.
Williams would run it down, but when she deposited her reply into the top of the net, all that was left to do for the 24-year-old Nice, France native was to kiss the grass.
“She helped me a little bit because she did two big mistakes,” Cornet would later say. “I think she was nervous as well—she’s just a human like everybody, and that’s what I was thinking about.”
Cornet will face Canada’s rising star Eugenie Bouchard in the fourth round on Monday. But first, she’ll have to get over the shock of what she has just accomplished.
“The biggest upset of the tournament because she’s No. 1, and she won so many times her in Wimbledon. I can’t believe that I did it myself, you know, me!” she said, with an air of surprise and jubilation in her voice.