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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday August 20, 2022

 
Alize Cornet

Alize Cornet continues to send shockwaves through Grand Slam draws. On Tuesday in New York she toppled defending champion Emma Raducanu.

Photo Source: Getty

Flushing Meadows, NY—All Alizé Cornet does is kill giants. The 32-year-old ironwoman dropped another shocker on a Grand Slam draw on Tuesday night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, toppling 2021 champion Emma Raducanu 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round.

Tennis Express

It was the perfect way for Cornet to celebrate another significant achievement. By playing in the first round she set a new record for most consecutive Grand Slam main draws played. Cornet, who has not missed a Slam since she took her place in the 2007 Australian Open draw, has now contested 63 consecutive Grand Slams, which eclipses Japan’s Ai Sugiyama’s previous record of 62.


Raducan becomes the first defending champion to lose her first-round match the following year since 2017, when Angelique Kerber was toppled by Naomi Osaka in straight sets. Raducanu is just the fourth player—male or female—to have lost the first match of her title defense in the Open Era.

It was a tense battle from start to finish, but Cornet was the better player in the biggest moments. She broke Raducanu’s serve seven times and dominated the longer rallies, winning 23 of 35 that lasted nine or more strokes.

Cornet also employed the drop shot particularly well, and won 14 of 15 points at net to end the British No.1’s night in one hour and 42 minutes.

The Frenchwoman has made a reputation for taking out top players at the Slams over the course of her career, and she has been better than ever in 2022. She reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open after upsetting Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep.

At Wimbledon she snapped Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak in the third round, earning her fourth career win over a reigning World No.1.

Cornet, who improves to 17-15 lifetime at the US Open, will face Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the second round.

Raducanu, seeded 11th and playing in just her sixth Grand Slam, falls to 13-5 lifetime at the Slams.

 

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