Last night, Alizé Cornet faced Clervie Ngounoue in the Indian Wells tournament qualifiers. The French player, ranked 103rd in the WTA standings, was up against the young American (ranked 307th) who is 17 years old, for the first time.
Defeated last week by Camila Osorio in the first round of the ATP 250 in Austin, Alizé Cornet returned to the court for the Indian Wells tournament qualifiers. Against the young American, Clervie Ngounoue, all hopes were permissible. The experienced French player aimed to gain confidence in a hard-court season that had started poorly. Her best result so far was reaching the round of 16 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, last February 7th. The American, on her part, was coming off a quarterfinal elimination in Pretoria on February 29th.
The start of the match was very poor for Alizé Cornet. While serving, she had the opportunity to lead on the scoreboard. Her first service game was very long and laborious, which was not a good sign. Clervie Ngounoue broke her serve right at the start. Nearly ten minutes passed. Trailing 30-0, the Nice player came back to level up. Deuces followed at 40-all. Despite three break points being saved, the fourth was the charm for the American.
The remainder of the set was not much better. With two break points to return to 2-2 that Alizé failed to convert, Clervie Ngounoue soared in the next game, delivering a love game (40-0) on her serve against the French player. At the end of the set, the player from Nice managed to win a service game and narrow the gap to 5-2. It was not enough, as she made too many mistakes. Clervie Ngounoue won the first set 6-2. However, it should be noted that it took her three set points to conclude.
In Trouble on Her Service Games
One might have expected a combative Alizé for the second set, but affected mentally and physically, the battle was too hard for her. In trouble in each service game, the French player was never able to win this match. With six double faults in the first set alone (10 in total) and a rather low first serve percentage (39%), Alizé never found the solution on her serve. As in the first set, the Nice player was broken right at the start of the second set. She even found herself trailing 4-1. At that point in the match, it was difficult to imagine a comeback from the French player. And yet, we almost witnessed a beautiful comeback.
Alizé managed to refocus and finally convert a break point, reducing the gap to 4-2. Unfortunately, her next service game was not good. Far from being defeated, she managed to raise her game to break her opponent again. When it was 5-3 and Alizé was serving, it seemed that a comeback was possible. Unfortunately, Clervie Ngounoue concluded the match as she started it, with a break. A victory in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) in 1 hour and 22 minutes in front of her home crowd for the young American.
Even though Alizé Cornet managed to pose problems for the American by breaking her twice in the second set, the French player’s serve did not hold up. In total, she lost six service games. Way too many! Under such conditions, winning the match proved to be an impossible mission. She suffers another defeat just a week after the last one. This marks two consecutive tournaments where she loses right at her entry.
Clervie Ngounoue will face her compatriot Taylor Townsend (ranked 77th in the WTA standings) tonight.
