After a dream week in Dubai—where she stunned world No.1, American Serena Williams, en route to the final—rejuvenated Alize Cornet confirmed her good run of form with another strong performance in Katowice. A wildcard into the draw, Cornet dramatically dismissed Italian Camila Giorgi to lift her fourth career title. Although she looked poised for a straight sets victory, the Frenchwoman found herself match point down in the decider. She kept a clear head, fought off the match point, regained control, and managed to turn the match around, ultimately closing out a thrilling 7-6,5-7,7-5 triumph over first-time finalist Giorgi.
If there's one thing Cornet proved recently, that's the fact that she is going to fight until the very end. She has shown it so many times already this season, and she did it again in Katowice. Except for her first round match, all other encounters went the distance. Her most notable performance came in the semifinals where she denied home hope Agnieszka Radwanska in absolutely amazing fashion. Not only did she come back after a nightmare first set, but she regrouped again after going down 0-3 in the decider. Showing extreme mental toughness and fierce determination she sealed out a hard-fought 0-6,6-2,6-4 victory. This was her second straight top 3 win.
I am really impressed by how well she is now able to cope with these big matches. In the past, Alize had developed a sort of reputation for losing on the important occasions. Things changed considerably in the past 12 months and, as a result, the Frenchwoman is now on the verge of breaking into the top 20 again. She has been as high as No. 11 in February 2009 and, provided she maintains this excellent run of form, she can maybe climb even higher till the end of the season.
With young hope, Caroline Garcia, winning in Bogota, this has been a sensational week for French tennis. Allez les bleus!
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