Strasbourg: Cornet and Iliev fall from the start

Strasbourg: Cornet and Iliev fall from the start

Alizé Cornet (33) and Sarah Iliev (16) were both eliminated in the first round of the Strasbourg tournament.

If the day had started well for the French clan in Strasbourg with the qualification of Clara Burel for the second round, it ended badly, with the elimination of Alizé Cornet and Sarah Iliev. The 33-year-old Niçoise, 59th in the world this week, fell to a player lower ranked than her, the Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (71st), whom she had beaten during her beautiful Australian Open 2022. After a long 3:01 battle marked by fifteen breaks, Cornet ended up losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. The Frenchwoman was notably weighed down by her thirteen double faults. She still managed to win the first set thanks to a break at 3-2, then broke the Bulgarian at the start of the second set.

However, Tomova woke up and won five games in a row. Cornet managed to come back to 4-5, before losing her serve when she had the chance to equalize at 5-5. It was therefore necessary to play a third set, where the two players chained the breaks, up to 3-3. Tomova again took the service of the Niçoise and served to win the match at 5-3, even getting a match point. Cornet saved her then broke (5-5). But at 6-5 in favor of the Bulgarian, the French missed her service game and bowed on her first match point, on an exchange where she slipped and hurt her right arm . Let’s hope it’s not too serious six days before the start of Roland-Garros…

Iliev prend date

At 16, Sarah Iliev, born near Strasbourg, was playing her very first match in a WTA table, after having come out of qualifications brilliantly. And she lost 7-5, 6-0 in 1h28 against the American Lauren Davis, seeded n°7. The young Alsatian lost her serve six times, but took her opponent’s twice. Still a little soft, she led 5-3 in the first set before losing the last ten games of the match. But we will have to remember his name! Also note this Monday the qualification of the seeded n°4 Bernarda Pera against Sophie Chang (6-4, 4-6, 6-1) and of the n°6 Varvara Gracheva against Zhuoxuan Bai (3-6, 6 -3, 7-6 by saving two match points). On the other hand, the seeded n°3 Shuai Zhang lived 48 minutes of ordeal against Anna-Lena Friedsam: 6-0, 6-0!

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