No second semi-final this season for Alizé Cornet. The Niçoise was eliminated on Friday in the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 in Prague by the German Tamara Korpatsch (7-6 (3), 6-1). The latter will be opposed to Linda Noskova (71st) or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (82nd) for a place in the final.
The first meeting between Cornet and Korpatsch had turned out quite easily in favor of the Frenchwoman (6-3, 6-4) on clay in Lausanne in 2019. But the ranking gap was greater four years ago. (Cornet was 48th, Korpatsch 142nd) than today (Cornet is 65th, Korpatsch 99th). And on Friday, the German was stronger.
30 unforced errors
In the first set, Cornet had a break lead (3-1) before seeing his opponent pile up four games to serve for the win of the set. As usual, the 33-year-old player, although dominated in the exchange, hung on and came back to 5-5 thanks in particular to her defensive qualities. More offensive, Korpatsch largely dominated the decisive game, winning the last six points of the set, concluded on a forehand fault by Cornet, after 1h09.
The 28-year-old German broke the No. 6 seed in the tournament early in the second set, who picked up in stride. But who ended up exploding, chaining unforced errors (30 in total) while she was struggling to worry the German – Cornet only made 10 winning shots, Korpatsch made 21. Hampered at the end of the game by her abdominals, the French gave in on a last backhand fault.
