Cornet had won her two previous meetings with Camila Giorgi, both this year, and both dramatically - she came from 4-1 down in the third set to beat her at the Australian Open, then fought off a match point to beat her in the final of Katowice a month ago, denying Giorgi her maiden WTA title.
Giorgi got her revenge on Tuesday, and on Cornet's home soil, too, winning a topsy-turvy battle in a few minutes short of two hours, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. It was so even that both players won the same amount of points in the match - 85 - but Giorgi won the most important ones in the first and third sets. Cornet's loss came the same day the tournament's No.1 seed, Stephens, went out (read more here). And those weren't the only upsets - Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni picked off No.6 seed Bojana Jovanovski, 6-4, 6-0, firing back-to-back aces to clinch the first set then rolling in the second. The other seeds in action both won, with No.4 seed Andrea Petkovic beating French wildcard Pauline Parmentier, 6-3, 6-4, and No.7 seed Peng Shuai beating Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty, 7-5, 7-5.
Petkovic is now 6-0 lifetime in Strasbourg - she won the title in her only other appearance in 2011. But the heavy-hitting Parmentier definitely gave her some things to think about. "When I came on court everyone was screaming, 'Pauline, Pauline!' I was like, 'Oh, this isn't going to be easy!'" Petkovic said.
"Also, she's an absolute clay court specialist. She plays great on clay. She has a lot of topspin on her shots and she serves well too - it was definitely difficult for me. "I just tried to step in the court and be aggressive when I could. When I did that, I had everything under control. But when I fell behind the baseline I had trouble because she would move me around the court. I also had a few concentration pauses - let's call them that - that have to stop, but all in all my groundstrokes were fine.
I could play better, but it was absolutely okay for the first match.
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