Australian Open: Simona Halep beaten by Alize Cornet
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Australian Open: Cornet knocks out Halep to reach quarters - best shots
Australian Open 2022 |
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Dates:17-30 January Venue: Melbourne Park |
Coverage: Daily radio commentaries on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Sport website and app, with selected live text commentaries online; TV highlights from middle Saturday. |
Two-time Grand Slam winner Simona Halep is out of the Australian Open, losing in three sets to France's Alize Cornet in hot conditions in Melbourne.
In temperatures of 32C, Cornet won 6-4 3-6 6-4 to reach a major quarter-final for the first time in 63 attempts.
It broke the record of Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who reached the last eight at Wimbledon in 2008 in her 45th Grand Slam.
World number 61 Cornet will now face American 27th seed Danielle Collins.
Collins came from behind to beat Belgian 19th seed Elise Mertens 4-6 6-4 6-4.
"To go to my first quarter-final is just a dream come true, I don't know what to say, it is just magic," said 32-year-old Cornet.
"I'm not going to stop now. I'm still ambitious. I just have to soak it in, take time to appreciate the moment and be proud of what I did today.
"But definitely from tomorrow, I will have to think about my next match and how I can go farther in the tournament. The sky's the limit. I really want to be ambitious. For the first time of my life, I really believe I can go till the end. I think that's what makes a difference."
Romanian 14th seed Halep, a finalist in 2018, had won all eight of her previous matches in 2022.
Cornet seals memorable win in sweltering heat
Alize Cornet made her first main draw Grand Slam appearance at the 2005 French Open
Halep, 30, had won the Adelaide WTA event in the build-up to the tournament and breezed through her opening three matches at the Australian Open for the loss of just 12 games in total.
Playing her sixth fourth-round match at a Grand Slam, Cornet edged an opening set that featured five breaks of serve, with Halep going long with a forehand on set point.
Cornet appeared in control as she recovered from an opening break to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, and had a point to go up 4-1, but the determined Halep battled back in impressive fashion, winning five consecutive games to level the match.
With both players tested by long rallies in the sweltering heat, Cornet roared and Halep threw her racquet in frustration as the French player survived a break point to hold for 3-3 in the deciding set.
Cornet delivered the decisive blow in the following game, winning four points in a row from 30-0 down.
Despite being unable to take two match points on Halep's next service game, Cornet took her third on her own serve and sank to her knees after sealing a memorable victory.
The quarter-final between Cornet and Collins will feature two of the feistiest players on the women's tour, with both known for being expressive on court.
Cornet said with a smile: "That could be some drama, this match, for sure. I see how she is on the court. She's like a lion. Oh my God, she impresses me a little bit because she's so intense. I'm intense too but I think she's next-level intense."
Danielle Collins lost to Petra Kvitova in the 2019 Australian Open semi-finals
Collins powers on after endometriosis surgery
Collins, a 2019 Australian Open semi-finalist, endured an almost three-hour battle in the heat against Mertens, and the American is used to dealing with pain.
Last year, after being diagnosed with endometriosis - a condition in which cells like the ones in the lining of the womb grow elsewhere in the body - she had surgery, saying it was causing her "too much physical agony".
She said: "Before my surgery and before I was on the proper medication, I was always having to adjust my training around my cycle, because of how painful my periods were.
"And now, with things being more consistent, I'm able to train more consistently and not have to have such drastic changes, especially the week of my cycle."
Swiatek fights back to reach last eight
Iga Swiatek won the French Open in 2020 when playing in only her sixth Grand Slam of her career
Poland's Iga Swiatek, the seventh seed, fought back from a set down to beat Romania's Sorana Cirstea 5-7 6-3 6-3 and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time.
Swiatek, 20, won the French Open in 2019 and has now reached the last eight in three of the 12 Grand Slam events she has played.
She lost the opening set, the first she had dropped in the tournament, but gained the decisive break in the sixth game of the second set.
Cirstea, ranked 38th in the world, missed four chances to break Swiatek's serve in the fourth game of the deciding set and that proved crucial as Swiatek then broke in the fifth and seventh games on her way to victory.
Swiatek was overcome with emotion at the end of the match and said: "For me a week without crying is not a week. My stress level was higher than the previous [matches].
"It started with being off the rhythm and after the first set I was a little bit shaking.
"She was really putting pressure on, returning in front of the baseline - she was playing as fast as my serve was. I just had to be on my toes."
Swiatek, who is writing columns for the BBC Sport website throughout the tournament, next plays Estonian Kaia Kanepi who won an enthralling match with second seed Aryna Sabalenka, knocking out the Belarusian 5-7 6-2 7-6 (10-7).
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