Simona Halep in the fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open season, The tennis world was surprised when Alize Cornet managed to beat the former world number 1 tennis player.
Entering the match, the Romanian national is clearly the favorite player as the 14th seed at the Australian Open this season.
However, the French tennis player defended as hard as possible and beat the player who has won two Grand Slam titles in three sets. Now, he strolled into the quarterfinals. Interestingly, it will be the French national’s first quarter-final at a Grand Slam.
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After the match, the Romanian tennis player accepted defeat gracefully. He used Instagram to congratulate Cornet on his win.
“You have become stronger today (24/1)!” Halep wrote on Instagram referring to Cornet. “I have so much respect for you @alizecornet.”
Then the 14th seed referred to how long it took them in the sun to compete and joked about another time when they met again.
“I’m going to keep training to get better and better for another 3 hour game when we meet again,” joked Simona Halep.
It was clear that the length of the match and the intense Australian sun had proved too much for both players. The Frenchman called the heat that day inhumane during the match, while the Romanian periodically appeared to be trying to catch his breath or standing in the shadows of the stadium for a while until his stamina improved.
The fourth round of the 2022 Australian Open season is the fifth meeting between the two players. Interestingly, this meeting is their first meeting in the last six seasons. With this victory, Cornet has now won four of five matches against the runners-up in the 2018 Australian Open.
The French tennis player entered the match as a dark horse. But she snatched the first set from Halep by breaking her serve before finally winning the match.
There were many tears on court as the Frenchman spoke about the heat that seemed never ending and finally reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
“I know it’s all over. It was a tough match with hot conditions and haunting past results,” said Cornet.
