UPSET ALERT! Alize Cornet knocks out No.3 seed Garbine Muguruza in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open

UPSET ALERT! Alize Cornet knocks out No.3 seed Garbine Muguruza in the second round of the 2022 Australian Open

Garbine Muguruza and Alize Cornet

In interesting turn of events, 3rd seed and one of the tournament favorite, Garbine Muguruza has crashed out of the 2022 Australian Open. The Spaniard lost her second round match to Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in straight sets 3-6,3-6 on Rod Laver Arena.

Muguruza was projected to go deep in the tournament given her relatively easy draw and recent form. She ended the last season with a title victory at the WTA Finals and also broke into the Top 5 of the world once again. She will now drop a lot of points and will drop to at least No.6 in the WTA Rankings.

Cornet, who hadn’t won a match in previous two tournaments, looked very good on the court against Muguruza right from the start. She was covering the court well and was using the baseline to her advantage. Her deep hitting strategy worked well and Muguruza at times had no answers for her. All Cornet needed was one break of serve as she closed out the set 6-3.

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The No.3 seed needed to step up in the set but the momentum was with the Frenchwoman. The string of unforced errors from Muguruza weren’t helping her either. Cornet got a break of serve midway in the second set and held her serve nicely. She eventually got another late break of serve and closed out the set 6-3 to know the third seed out.

The third quarter of the women’s draw opens up

Alize Cornet
Alize Cornet

After the match, Muguruza said that her serve let her down and gave all the Credit to Cornet for winning the match. Muguruza’s team had tested positive for COVID right before the travelling to Australia for the summer. The Spaniard said that the untimely positive COVID test threw her off a bit and hampered her practice.

Along with Muguruza’s exit, the WTA Finals finalist, Anett Kontaveit too has bowed out of the second round. The Estonian lost to Clara Tauson in straight sets on a shiny Thursday morning. This means that their are no Top 10 players left in the third quarter of the draw.

As for Cornet, she will either face 29th seed Tamara Zidansek or Brit Heather Watson in the third round on Saturday. The Frenchwoman has a great chance to use her experience and go deep at the Oz Open given that her section of the draw has opened up.

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Also read: Andy Murray’s former coach calls his comeback win in the first round a ‘MIRACLE’