A fascinating all-French clash between Caroline Garcia and Alizé Cornet awaits on Monday at the French Open with the winner set to advance to their first ever Slam quarter-final in singles.
Garcia d. Hsieh, 6-4 4-6 9-7 (R3)
Garcia is already in uncharted territory after reaching the second week of a Slam for the first time in her career. The Frenchwoman held it together in a high-pressure situation, edging Hsieh Su-Wei out on Court 1. Both players had purple patches during the match and opportunities to serve out the match – Garcia at *5-3 and Hsieh *6-5. Following a duo of solid service games, Garcia was then able to apply pressure on Hsieh’s serve and force errors to bag a huge win.
It was another impressive showing from Hsieh who took the ball so early and flat, and never went away even after losing the first set. Garcia had a few wild moments but always managed to rein it back in. The Frenchwoman battled especially well from 1-3 down in the third set by playing aggressively and taking control of the rallies. On the whole, I was impressed with Garcia and her return was much improved with plenty of balls back in court.
Cornet d. Radwanska, 6-2 6-1 (R3)
Cornet had lost seven of her last eight matches against Agnieszka Radwanska – buoyed by her home crowd, Cornet came away with a very convincing win. The Frenchwoman came out with some sound tactics and more decisive aggression. Cornet also hit an array of drop shot winners, which surprisingly, seemed to flummox Radwanska who was slow to anticipate.
Cornet was much more successful at the net compared to Radwanska, winning 71% of net points compared to Radwanska’s 41%. Cornet swept past the number nine seed in just 79 minutes and broke in all seven of Radwanska’s service games.
Head-to-head record: The pair have played just once before on the ITF circuit in Marseille in 2010 – Garcia won, 7-5 5-7 6-3 as the world number 412!
Interesting stat: Garcia has an excellent three set record, winning 14 of her last 17 matches that have gone the distance. For Cornet, her three set win over Babos in the first round snapped a five match losing streak in three set matches.
Final thoughts: After struggling again with her back at the start of the clay court season, Garcia is rounding into form. Pressure and expectation have often overwhelmed Garcia in Paris – so far this year she has held her nerve very well. There wasn’t a great deal in Cornet’s form pre-RG to suggest she was due a run but the game and heart has always been there on clay and at Roland Garros.
I am very interested to see how the crowd will be for this match. The court placement of this match could have an impact as Garcia has had a few rough experiences on Philippe Chatrier. After the LOL French Fed Cup drama on Twitter and Garcia clearly making out in press that they’re not exactly friends this adds another interesting dynamic to the table.
I think Garcia has the game, with her serve, to beat Cornet – key will be whether she can control her emotions and nerves in the situation. Cornet is one of the grittiest competitors and seems to thrive in these kinds of situations in Paris. I would say that Cornet is the slight favourite in this match – the more I think about it though, the more hopeful I am of Garcia’s chances.
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Damn! I just have a feeling like may be Cornet or Wozniacki will with RG this year haaa!
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* win
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As long as Mladenovic doesn’t. Jesus, what a bitch! I think she’s overtaken Coco as my least liked player now and that’s a real achievement.
I don’t like Cornet much either. She’s pretty sweet in interviews and I love her sense of humour. But I’d go as far to say she cheats when on court.
So obviously I’m rooting for Caro in this one. She’s always been so professional and a good sport. Between the Fed Cup drama, Mladenovic drama and that awful rumour that got started last year that she’d called Begu a gypsy, she’s really had a lot more to deal with than she should have.
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You, too? High five for that.
Mladenovic’s ego is already inflated af although she has achieved nothing important…
And yup, I hope Garcia will win, too. Cornet has bullied her like Mladenovic (and Parmentier).
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I don’t think Garcia and Cornet ever got along. I recall Caroline being encouraged to diss Alize in an interview a few years ago but she kept it classy and stated that they had different personalities.
I beat a guy I have lost to all 6/7 timed we played today. 76 (12-10) 46 64 in 2 and a half hours!
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Congrats Andrew, that must have felt good!
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I feel that Garcia is a really nice person. She never said anything bad about her (former) team mated in publicity. Therefore, I can’t believe how they could treat her so badly.
Congrats! 🙂
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I remember Anne Keovathong saying that Garcia was one of the most polite players she’s ever come across when in the locker rooms and on practise courts. But I guess she doesn’t know 5 languages so…
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I think Caroline has a good sense of humour too. I saw a clip from her press conference where someone asked her about reaching the second week of Slam and she looked so excited and put her arms in the air!
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Wozniacki, it is for me too! Hopefully she’ll stop being seen as a ‘journey woman’ as some supposedly think she is.
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I’m really looking forward to this all-French battle. The atmosphere should be terrific. The outcome is definitely up for grabs, but I give Cornet a slight edge due to her fighting spirit, and probably my expectation that Garcia likely will wobble at some key point during the match. (Keep up the great work with this blog…I love the insights & objectivity. It’s a great combination!)
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Agree with Cornet actually, still it is hard to forget how difficult is this year to hold her serve. This is going to be the key I think, how she will get her serve going, she will get her chances on return for sure and a lot I guess. Strycova did loose like 10 BB or more? Aga’s on serve was really helpful for Cornet… Both girls have their issues, Garcia is the one more talented in my eyes, the crowed will be better used by Cornet, she is able to beat almost anybody on her day in such a big match..
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I’m a bit concerned for the Garcia wobble too. I’ve actually gone for Garcia in the end. Just a feeling she might have that moment but we shall see! And thank you for the compliment 🙂
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Well, she’s playing like she means it. Hopefully she closes it out too. Interesting!
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I have something to share to the topic “Mladenovic”. I saw a czech document about FC another day where our girls like Kvitova, Strycova, Pliskova agreed that Mladenovic is actually a fake “bitch”, that talks to them like to best friends but is not a polite person at all and they are not planning going along with her. This is really special when somebody like Kvitova says something like this about anybody… And I guess they where correct. However it is fun to watch her matches. it is like Kyrgios, behaves like an idiot but if we have only Federer’s personalities, where is the fun out there…
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To be fair I find Federer smug, arrogant and fake also. I feel like the majority of tennis fans have been brainwashed into thinking he’s this gentleman, but all I see is him scowling constantly and making belittling comments about other players.
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Surprisingly warm net meeting post match.
Garcia played a great match after she settled in. When it was 2 all on serve she had hit 3 winners and 11 unforced errors. She finished the set with 11 winners and 11 unforced errors!
As much as I love Pliskova, I’d love to see what Caroline could do if she made the semi finals.
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