And if only one remains ... While there are no more French players in the men's table after the elimination of Corentin Moutet, swept in the 3rd round by the Canadian prodigy Félix Auger-Aliassime (6 -1, 6-0, 6-4), the Niçoise carries the last French hopes to New York, where she will play her first round of 16.
If she benefited from the abandonment of the American Madison Keys (seeded No. 7) in the middle of the second set (7-6, 3-2), victims of neck pain and cervical pain, the 56th player in the world showed an excellent face to afford his "grand slam".
After Françoise Durr, Nathalie Tauziat, Mary Pierce, Sandrine Testud, Julie Halard, Amélie Mauresmo and Marion Bartoli, the thirty-something has become the 8th French player in history to have qualified for all 8ths of the four major tournaments.
“These three games (at the US Open, Editor's note) really teach me that I have great strength in me.
And sometimes I think I underestimate that strength, that mental strength, ”she commented.
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She can already boast of a record.
She is the active player who holds the most consecutive participations in Grand Slam (54), a series started at the 2007 Australian Open: “I am quite proud of this record.
This means that my career has really been consistent since I started at 17 years old.
I've always stayed between 10th and 90th place in the world all my career, it's a real performance.
I am not a player who gives up.
Today, I am 30 years old, I finally reach the fourth round of all the Grand Slams.
I am proud of this resilience.
"
Inconsistencies and tensions
It has, on the other hand, never reached the quarters of a Grand Slam.
The opportunity is good this Monday against the revenge Tsvetana Pironkova, now unranked in the WTA.
After releasing Garbine Muguruza and Croatian Dona Vekic, the 33-year-old mother, just out of retirement, continues her amazing comeback.
Before the New York Grand Slam, the Bulgarian had not trod the courts in competition since Wimbledon ... 2017.
Above all, Alizé Cornet explodes under the New York bubble, unlike many of his compatriots, in the middle of a nightmare.
The American authorities have thus decided to impose on the players who had been in “close” contact with Benoît Paire, tested positive for Covid-19 and forfeited the tournament, a very long period to be able to return home.
Even if they are negative, they are, like Paire, stuck in their room until September 11 and have a good chance of not being able to play the tournaments by Roland-Garros (September 27-October 11)… He It turns out that, in addition to Pair, five of the seven players in quarantine are French (Kristina Mladenovic, Adrian Mannarino, Richard Gasquet, Édouard Roger-Vasselin and Grégoire Barrère).
“I think it's very brutal. It is certain that I am very sad for her »
Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet said she was "shocked" by the decision of the health authorities to exclude Mladenovic from the women's doubles tournament on Saturday.
“I think it's very brutal.
It is certain that I am very sad for her.
Everyone wants to go home after the tournament is over.
Now she has to stay here.
I know it's part of the protocols, but, again, it's pretty brutal to be left out this way.
The inconsistencies and tensions are linked together under the bubble.
Mannarino (beaten in the third round on Friday) had been authorized to play, while Mladenovic was blocked.
The US Open and the USTA (American federation) are probably collateral victims of the procrastination of local authorities on the subject of the health crisis.
Of course, if they had known, the "banished" would not have come ...
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US Open: Mladenovic excluded from doubles tournament by decision of health authorities