The first meeting between the 20-year-old Elina Avanesyan and the experienced Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, who are already making noise this year at the Grand Slam tournaments, took place in the first round on court number 10 of the US Open.
Today, Cornet in the WTA rankings is even below her opponent, although there were times when today’s world number 79 racket was close to the top ten. In fact, it happened 14 years ago. During her long career, Alize won 6 tournaments on the women’s circuit, but not all of them were hard-won. From this we can conclude that for Cornet the coverage of US courts is not very convenient.
From the first draw it was clear that the character of this duel, in which youth fights against experience (the difference between the girls is 13 years!), will be tenacious. The debut was left to Elina, who immediately made a break in 10 minutes. Even for the Russian tennis player herself, such a start was unexpected.
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Cornet immediately hit a reverse break, not least due to the fact that Avanesyan hit three double faults on her serve. Our doubles against the unforced French: that was the leitmotiv of the first set. In addition, from the beginning the rivals decided not to take away their service and launched continuous break games. Very feminine. Men’s tennis is more classic in this sense.
In the fourth game, this marathon of unprecedented break generosity was stopped by our Elina, who ultimately held her serve. A native of the town of Pyatigorsk preferred common sense to nerves and began to play easier and more confidently. A resident of romantic Nice clearly did not like this twist. The nerves and appeals to the referee began. Too soon, but quite Alize-esque.
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The climax was the fifth service game of Cornet, who again played for a long time, but lacked beautiful plays and incredible saves. Avanesyan turned out to be stronger and led 4-1, and then 5-1, but with what energy! 6 times in Elina’s service it was “exactly”! The first set was won by the Russian 6:2. Supposedly easy, judging by the score, the set lasted almost an hour: 2:6.
The second set was like a continuation of the first with only one difference – Cornet already confidently took Elina’s feeds. Again, after very long draws. After the rivals won the game early on, the Frenchwoman had five moves in a row left, which she returned to the game quite easily 6-1.
The third set, and again that intransigent nerve in the match. A true thriller, not a match. Everything is decided by the prestige of the tournament. It would be possible to stop playing in some “half thousand”, but not in the United States, especially since this is the last Grand Slam tournament of the calendar year. In the sixth game there was a decisive event for the whole game, the Russian made the long-awaited break and led 4: 2, it only remained for her to hold her serve and bring the matter to victory. However, with a step to go before dinner, with the score 5: 3 on her serve, Avanesyan managed to give it away. And yet Elina! On the field, Cornet achieved the long-awaited 2:6, 6:1, 4:6 victory.
