Mover of the Week
Her form can be as unpredictable as her temper, but Alize Cornet reminded the tennis world of what she is capable of when playing at her best in Gstaad. She arrived at the Swiss Open in poor form, having won just two matches across her last five tournaments, which included first round exits at Devonshire Park and Eastbourne. But she was a woman on a mission all week in Switzerland where she won the title without dropping a set.
Her tournament began with a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win over Silvia Soler Espinosa, before she defeated home hope Conny Perrin 6-3 6-3 in the second round. That was followed by a 6-4 7-6 win against fifth seed and former French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals to set up a clash with Eugenie Bouchard in the semifinals. The Canadian was playing better than she has done for some time, but her challenge was cut short as injury forced her to retire trailing 6-7 0-1.
That left Cornet facing Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella for the title. The Frenchwoman delivered a fine performance to see off Minella’s challenge in straight sets 6-4 7-6 and claim her first title since winning in Hobart in 2016. She was also rewarded with a 14 spot rankings climb to world #34, which though someway short of her career-high of world #11 does give Cornet a good chance of claiming a seed at the US Open.
Loser of the Week
Last year, Irina-Camelia Begu enjoyed one of the best weeks of her career in Bucharest, winning the title in front of her home fans by defeating Julia Goerges 6-3 7-5 in the final. This year, she made a rather less successful trip to the Romanian capital. She was overwhelmed by Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the first round, winning just three games in a 2-6 1-6 loss. It was her third first round loss in as many tournaments after early defeats in Eastbourne and at the All England Club.
Whilst the defeats on grass courts in Britain are perhaps excusable on account of her struggles to adapt to grass, although she did reach the third round at Wimbledon in 2015, her loss to Jabeur is concerning to say the least. Begu never got going against Jabeur and the scoreline was unquestionably a fair reflection of the match. As a result of her loss, she falls 14 places in the world rankings to #56, and she will need to rediscover her best form quickly if she wants to avoid a further rankings fall.
Honourable Mentions
Latvian #2 Anastasija Sevastova, who retired in 2013 due to recurring injuries only to return renewed in 2015, continued the impressive results in her ‘second’ career by claiming the title in Bucharest, defeating Croatia’s Petra Martic 7-6 6-2 in the final. It was Sevastova’s second final this season after losing to Tatjana Maria in Mallorca on the grass, and after claiming the first set she never looked in danger of suffering another disappointment. She returns to the top 20 at world #20.
It was also a good week for Slovakia’s Polona Hercog, albeit one that eventually ended in disappointment when she was forced to retire trailing 1-6 in the Bucharest semifinals to eventual champion Sevastova. But the eighth seed picked up some encouraging wins in Romania, defeating Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Irina Bara to reach the quarterfinals, where she accounted for Ons Jabeur 6-3 6-1. She climbs 15 places to world #75 as a result of her efforts.
- Simona Halep (Rom), 7571 points, no change
- Caroline Wozniacki (Den), 6740 points, no change
- Sloane Stephens (US), 5463 points, moves up one place
- Angelique Kerber (Ger), 5305 points, moves up six places
- Elina Svitolina (Ukr), 5020 points, no change
- Caroline Garcia (Fra), 4730 points, no change
- Garbine Muguruza (Esp), 4620 points, drops down four places
- Petra Kvitova (Cze), 4550 points, drops down one place
- Karolina Pliskova (Cze), 4485 points, drops down one place
- Julia Goerges (Ger), 3980 points, moves up three places
- Jelena Ostapenko (Lat), 3787 points, moves up one place
- Madison Keys (US), 3596 points, drops down one place
- Daria Kasatkina (Rus), 3525 points, moves up one place
- Venus Williams (US), 2801 points, drops down five places
- Elise Mertens (Bel), 2755 points, no change
- Ashleigh Barty (Aus), 2555 points, moves up one place
- Naomi Osaka (Jpn), 2350 points, moves up one place
- Kiki Bertens (Ned), 2260 points, drops down one place
- Coco Vandeweghe (US), 2183 points, no change
- Anastasija Sevastova (Lat), 2165 points, moves up two places
Who was your Mover of the Week? Let us know in the comments below!