Finally, unthinkably, Iga Swiatek has been beaten. It had to come sometime; we knew it, she knew it, and Alizé Cornet, the architect of her downfall, even had the audacity to believe it. Yet still, after a run of 37 wins in a row and six successive titles, beginning in February and culminating with a second victory at Roland Garros earlier this month, the moment felt seismic in its magnitude.
No one will feel the reverberations more keenly than Cornet. Eight years after she stunned Serena Williams to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time, six months after reaching her first grand slam quarter-final at January’s Australian Open, and with the end of her career beckoning, Cornet, 32, claimed one of the biggest wins of her life.
“This kind of match is what I am living for, what I’m practising for every day,” said the 37th-ranked Cornet after her 6-4, 6-2 victory. “It really drives me and I knew I could do it. I had this belief, even though she had 37 wins in a row, I was like, ‘If there’s a moment you can beat her, it’s now, on grass, she feels a little less comfortable than on other surfaces.’
“I guess I like the upsets. It’s a really nice feeling right now, and I need to process, because I still feel like I’m still playing the match somehow. I’m not completely realising what’s happening right now.”
Having won the second grand slam title of her career in Paris, Swiatek arrived at the All England Club cloaked in an aura of invincibility that intensified when she beat Jana Fett in the opening round to claim the longest winning run this century. Yet the Polish world No 1 has spent much of the past week reminding anyone who would listen that she remains a relative novice on grass. The warning signs were there, yet few were minded to heed them in the face of such dominance.
Swiatek struggled to put away Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove in round two, dropping a set for only the seventh time in four months. Yet even that blip left few prepared for a defeat that sent shockwaves through the top half of the draw, where fourth seed Paula Badosa, a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) winner over two-time champion Petra Kvitova, is now the highest seed remaining.
Swiatek, who elected to rest after the French Open rather than playing in Berlin, said she saw the result coming.
“Usually I am hard on myself,” said Swiatek. “Here, I know how I felt before matches, I know how I felt when I was practising. Let’s just say that I didn’t feel like I’m in [the] best shape. So I was kind of aware that this could happen. Maybe it’s not the right attitude to have, but it is like it is.
“I tried many things to feel better on court, on [the] grass courts, but it didn’t really work out. That’s why I’m not even hard on myself because, it’s kind of logical that if I couldn’t find it even in practices, I’m not going to find it in a match.”
Two early breaks put Cornet in the driving seat, and from there the Frenchwoman played near-flawless tennis to consolidate her advantage. Swiatek battled to a break in the fourth game, but that only seemed to inspire Cornet to greater heights as she went on to finish the match with just seven unforced errors.
So much of Swiatek’s success this season has been underpinned by a greater willingness to take on her shots under new coach Tomasz Witkorowski. For once, though, she struggled to strike a balance between consistency and aggression, racking up an uncharacteristic 33 unforced errors.
“The thing that I changed this season is that I started being more and more aggressive,” said Swiatek. “It was really comfortable for me to have the initiative and be proactive, but here I couldn’t control the ball. So I needed to slow down a little bit, and I was kind of pushing the ball, which sometimes was actually OK, and I played like that since 0-3 in the first.
“But then in the second set, I made a few attempts to speed up again and it didn’t work out, and I didn’t come back to being solid. When you play aggressively and you suddenly change the way you play, it’s not easy to keep that. So I got a little bit confused.”
When Swiatek broke early in the second set to move 2-0 ahead, it looked likely to herald the start of an inevitable surge. Resilience has been a key feature of the Pole’s extraordinary triumphal march this season, but for once she was unable to maintain her momentum. In the next game, Cornet reached deuce on Swiatek’s serve with a sublime drop volley, caressed over the net at full stretch and loaded with sidespin. Even Cornet was left slack-jawed by that one. When she then fired a slightly mishit backhand return for a winner on break point, an air of resignation began to descend over Swiatek.
Having held to love to level for 2-2, Cornet broke with a searing forehand return winner. Swiatek looked lost. She would not win another game.
“Usually when I’m coming back, I have some kind of a plan, and I know what to change,” said Swiatek. “Here, I didn’t know. I was confused. On grass courts everything happens so quickly.
“I didn’t tank it, but I just didn’t know what to do.”
Cornet suggested at the beginning of the season that she was likely to retire after the US Open. Having matched Ai Sugiyama’s record of 62 consecutive grand slam appearances with her participation at Wimbledon, she now has the chance to set a new milestone at Flushing Meadows.
She may yet continue into next season, however. At Roland Garros, she was booed off Court Philippe Chatrier after retiring from her third-round match against China’s Qinwen Zheng with a torn abductor muscle. The experience left a bitter taste, and she is contemplating the possibility of returning to Paris one last time in an attempt to bid a more fitting adieu to her home slam. She does not intend to renege on her decision to call time on her career, however.
“I think that’s why I’m playing so good, it’s because I know it’s almost the end,” said Cornet. “I’m giving everything. I might just play till Roland Garros next year. That’s the plan. But, no, I’m not considering [going] back on this decision. We’ll talk about it next year, see which position mentally I’m in.
“I just want to take it match by match. Earlier when I was walking to Court 1, I was smiling because, ‘OK, that might be the last time I’m walking to Court No 1, so please just enjoy yourself, have fun, take all the good energy.'”
She achieved that, and then some.