Australian Open: Timofeeva takes out Grand Slam ironwoman Cornet, moves into second round

Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva won against French wildcard and Grand Slam ironwoman Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4 to move into the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Sunday afternoon.

Cornet, a former quarter-finalist at Australia, was playing in her record 68th consecutive Grand Slam main draw. Feliciano Lopez holds the record on the men’s side – the Spaniard played in 79 consecutive Grand Slam main draws in a streak that ended at 2022 Roland-Garros.

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Tennis Majors

20-year-old Timofeeva, who became the fourth WTA player to win a title as a lucky loser last year, needed two hours and three minutes to take down the Frenchwoman, breaking serve four times from 15 opportunities, and saving six of the seven break points she faced.

Timofeeva, ranked No 144, will face the winner of the match between Pole Magda Linette, the No 20 seed, and Dane wildcard Caroline Wozniacki next.

“It never went my way. That’s what I feel” – Cornet sad and frustrated after the loss

Cornet felt she never able to recover after a slow start that saw her go down 5-0 in the first set and was left frustrated after her loss.

“It never went my way. That’s what I feel. I had a few break points in the first set that never turned my way. I was down 5-0,” Cornet said. “Even though it was maybe after 40 minutes, but it was really hard to fight back after being 5-0 down. Then in the second it was a bit more balanced, but she broke early in the set, and she was able to keep the break until the end. I felt I played a better set in the second set, but it was not enough. She was very solid, and I missed way too much, which is usually my quality to be a solid player. Today not enough. So yeah, I’m just sad and frustrated, and I wish I could have done better.”

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 58.910.000, most recent results first):

• Rebecca Marino vs. Jessica Pegula
• Aleksandra Krunic vs. Clara Burel
• Renata Zarazua vs. Martina Trevisan
• Lin Zhu vs. Oceane Dodin
• Yafan Wang vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Emma Raducanu vs. Shelby Rogers
• Katie Boulter vs. Yue Yuan
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Peyton Stearns vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Sloane Stephens vs. Olivia Gadecki
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Anna Blinkova
• Elena Rybakina vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto vs. Lulu Sun
• Emma Navarro vs. Xiyu Wang
• Camila Giorgi vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Greet Minnen vs. Clara Tauson
• Petra Martic vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Danielle Collins vs. Angelique Kerber
• Iga Swiatek vs. Sofia Kenin
• Caroline Garcia vs. Naomi Osaka
• Ons Jabeur vs. Yulia Starodubtseva
• Taylor Townsend vs. Paula Badosa
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Bernarda Pera
• Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Katie Volynets
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Arantxa Rus
• Viktorija Golubic vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Anastasia Zakharova
• Magdalena Frech vs. Daria Saville
• Mayar Sherif vs. Elise Mertens
• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Donna Vekic
• Rebeka Masarova vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
• Marta Kostyuk vs. Claire Liu
• Diana Shnaider vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Tatjana Maria vs. Camila Osorio
• Fiona Ferro vs. Mccartney Kessler
• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Laura Siegemund
• Kaja Juvan vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Anna Karolina Schmiedlova vs. Coco Gauff
• Nadia Podoroska vs. Tamara Zidansek
• Storm Hunter vs. Sara Errani
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Yanina Wickmayer vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Kayla Day vs. Viktoriya Tomova
• Elina Svitolina vs. Taylah Preston
• Linda Noskova vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Ella Seidel vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Magda Linette vs. Caroline Wozniacki
• Caroline Dolehide vs. Leolia Jeanjean
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Amanda Anisimova
• Sara Sorribes Tormo vs. Alina Korneeva
• Diane Parry vs. Xinyu Wang: sunday
• Maria Sakkari vs. Nao Hibino: sunday
• Ana Bogdan vs. Brenda Fruhvirtova: sunday
• Alycia Parks beat Daria Snigur (Q): 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
• Tamara Korpatsch beat Jodie Burrage: 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
• Elina Avanesyan beat Zhuoxuan Bai: 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Barbora Krejcikova (9) beat Mai Hontama (WC): 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Lesia Tsurenko (28) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Kamilla Rakhimova beat Emina Bektas: 6-4, 6-4
• Leylah Fernandez (32) beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 7-6 (5), 6-2