Alize Cornet - Rising French Tennis Player

2005-2007

She made her Grand Slam debut at the French Open in 2005 and made it to the second round, where she lost to Amelie Mauresmo. In 2006, she reached the second round again by beating Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the first round. Alize Cornet could not repeat this performance in 2007, as she lost in the first round to Venus Williams 6–4, 6–3. Cornet was defeated in the Wimbledon 2007 qualifying event by Olga Govortsova 7–6(12), 3–6, 6–4, but made it to the main draw as a lucky loser when Li Na of China withdrew.



Alize reached the second round before being defeated by the experienced Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 6–0. Also in 2007, she won a $5 ITF tournament in Dnepropetrovsk, beating Stefanie Vogele 6–4, 6–3 in the final. In the 2007 US Open, Cornet lost to Jelena Jankovic in the 3rd round 0-6, 0–6.

2008

Cornet reached 2nd round at Australian Open where she lost to #9 seed Daniela Hantuchova. Over the following months, Cornet experienced a moderate level of success on the main tour, reaching the final in Acapulco and the semi-finals in Amelia Island and Charleston (a Tier I event). Cornet entered the 2008 Rome Masters and beat Vera Dushevina, before losing to Francesca Schiavone 6-1 6-2.

Due to her great run at Rome, Alize Cornet rose to number 30 in the world and was seeded 19th for her home Slam, the French Open. She defeated Julia Vakulenko in the first round 6–4, 7–5 after a stylish display. She then beat clay specialist Gisela Dulko 6–0, 4–6, 6–4 in the second round. However she lost to 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6–4, 6–4 in the third round.