Cornet poised for sweet success
Friday 23 January 2009
By Eleanor Preston
There is much more to young Frenchwoman Alize Cornet than a lot of cheap
jokes about ice cream cones - but that won’t stop us making them. Cornet’s
name has barely to be mentioned amongst the wags in the media workroom at
Australian Open 2009 before someone cracks a gag about how she blows her own
Trumpet (a make of Australian ice-cream, in case you were wondering) or the
fact that she’s playing Dinara Safina on, er, Sundae. It must be said that
our very own As It Happens is one of the worst offenders and, frankly, it
should get some stick for that.
Joking aside, there is every reason to take Cornet seriously. She has been
there or thereabouts in the upper echelons of the women’s game for the past
two seasons, and is therefore due a run deep into the heart of a Grand Slam
tournament. This might just be the place, for after beating last year’s
semifinalist Daniela Hantuchova 4-6 6-4 6-2 in the third round, Cornet will
fancy her chances against Safina. She is equipped with a clever, artful game
that is deceptively powerful and made more potent by Cornet’s speed of foot.
She might not be able to match Safina for raw power, but she has plenty of
guile.
Safina was a 6-2 6-2 winner over Estonia’s finest, Kaia Kanepi, and is being
touted as something of a dark horse for the title. Last year proved to be an
outstanding one for the Russian, who was runner-up to Ana Ivanovic at Roland
Garros, a silver medallist at the Beijing Olympics, and a semifinalist at the
US Open. She lost narrowly to Elena Dementieva – the same player who denied
her gold in Beijing – at last week’s Sydney International, and her
quarterfinal win over Cornet at the same tournament will give her confidence
ahead of Sunday’s – sorry, Sundae’s – rematch.
Safina’s tennis has all the attributes of a Grand Slam champion-in-waiting,
while her experiences of contending for major titles last season should stand
her in good stead. She remains something of a psychological puzzle, however,
and she never quite appears to be in complete control of her emotions on
court. It would be trite to compare Safina too closely with her brother
Marat, but it is hard not to be reminded of him when Safina misses a shot she
feels she should have made - and explodes with a torrent of industrial
Russian under her breath.
The fact that Cornet is currently at a career-high ranking of 16 shows the
upward trajectory she is on, and along with Caroline Wozniacki – her defeat
to Jelena Dokic notwithstanding – and Agnieszka Radwanska, she is one of a
crop of young players who have already made a successful transition from
junior tennis and are poised to make a more significant impact in the women’
s game. Cornet has yet to get past the third round of a Grand Slam
tournament, and a win over Safina would therefore represent a sizeable
breakthrough for her.
You can forget all those dreadful jokes about ice cream cones. I scream
Cornet, and so should you.
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