Alize Cornet
Third seed Alize Cornet takes on Russian youngster Varvara Gracheva in the round of 32 of the Open de Limoges Open on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old Alize Cornet will return to the court for the first time since her disappointing campaign in the Guadalajara Open where she lost in the round of 64 to China’s Zhu Lin. That match took place in the middle of October. So the French veteran will be playing her first match in almost two months. She will hope to hit the ground running in Limoges.
The former world No. 11 began the year with first-round exits in Melbourne and Adelaide. However, at the Australian Open, she produced her best result at a major by reaching the quarterfinals. She also finished runner-up at the Jasmin Open in October. Cornet was ousted in the semifinals in the Bad Homburg Open and the Tennis in the Land tournament.
The 22-year-old will take confidence from the fact that she made the semifinals in Limoges last year. She was ousted by Ana Bogdan. One of Gracheva’s best results came at the WTA 125 event in Paris in May, where she lost in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Gracheva made it to the third round for the second straight year.
Gracheva lost 9 matches on the trot in the main draws of tournaments during the middle half of the season. Her torrid run finally ended in the Chennai Open where she made it to the quarterfinals. In the WTA 125 event in Rouens, she was ousted in the semis. In the WTA Angers Arena Loire Open, Gracheva lost to Clara Burel in the round of 16.
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 1-1. Gracheva won in their last meeting in the round of 64 of the Madrid Open this year in three sets.
Prediction: Alize Cornet to win in three sets.
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